Finding A Way
by HPFFwriter
Summary: AU. If Sirius Black had arrived in Godric's Hollow only minutes before Hagrid, would anything have been different? What if he had taken Harry instead of hunting down Peter Pettigrew? Chapters one and three rewritten.
1. Halloween 1981

**Disclaimer - **Anything that you recognize to belong to the Harry Potter universe is not mine, but J.K. Rowling's. The storyline and plot and any other characters, however, are the sole property of myself.

**A/N:** This is a rewrite of the first chapter. I've got a couple other rewrites to upload and those chapters will have the same note at the top. The general plot of the story has not and will not change, but I preferred these rewrites to what I originally posted. I think they do a better job at describing the feeling of the situation the characters are being placed in.

* * *

The thirty-first day of the tenth month in the year nineteen hundred eighty-one was one that would never be forgotten by anybody who had experienced it. Many things happened that night, both good and bad. Betrayal covered the night like a thick blanket—betrayal, murder, and heartbreak.

This story begins where many others do, just past eleven o'clock on Halloween night in the village of Godric's Hollow. The Dark Lord had already been here; he'd already murdered Lily and James Potter, and turned his wand against young Harry Potter. His curse, however, had rebounded upon its caster, driving Voldemort far away, and leaving the Potter family cottage as nothing but a pile of dirt and rubble.

A large form appeared before the destruction and took in the sight before him with wide, disbelieving. Rubeus Hagrid set forward slowly through the wrought-iron gate surrounding the Potters' front yard. He refused to look into the faces of James and Lily as he found them, not recognizing the fact that their eyes had been closed and their bodies placed in more natural positions than which they'd fallen. The mission he'd been sent on kept his grief at bay for the time being—he had to find Harry Potter and take the child to Dumbledore. Personally, he thought the Headmaster was being a bit too optimistic, thinking a baby could live through something like this. But Hagrid searched. He turned over large piles of wall, dug through rubble, never finding what he was searching for.

There was nothing for it—Harry Potter was just not there. But how could that be, unless the blast within the house, whatever had reduced it to what it now was, had destroyed Harry along with it. Tears built up in the half-giant's eyes at the very thought. With a heavy sigh, Hagrid left the ruined cottage knowing that the spells Dumbledore had placed over it, the ones that kept the Muggles away, wouldn't hold much longer, and he didn't want to be caught snooping around.

_Dumbledore won't be happy_, thought Hagrid as he went to the spot where he'd be taken back to the Hogwarts gate. _He said the boy would be here… How he could have possibly known that is beyond me… But he wasn't there. Not even a ruddy sign of him. _Hagrid had never failed an assignment set to him by Dumbledore and he wasn't looking forward to telling the Headmaster about this. _There's a first for everything…_ With a quick turn on a specific spot of the street and a faint _pop_, Rubeus Hagrid was gone.

* * *

While Albus Dumbledore was receiving news that he'd been wrong, a rare and unfortunate occurrence, a wizard was flying through the air on a charmed motorbike, one arm busy steering the machine, the other protectively cradling something zipped in his black leather jacket. Anger and grief beyond anything he'd ever felt had been pushed to the back of his mind as duty took over. The bundle within the jacket squirmed and he looked down at it for a moment, seeing a tuft of black hair before it settled again and slept on. While his godson slept, Sirius Black rode on, not knowing what daylight would bring for them, but determined to fulfill his promise to his best friends.

* * *

Sunlight flooded through the curtains, waking Remus Lupin as suddenly as though he'd been slapped. Blue eyes snapped open and the young wizard pushed himself up in his bed, trying to still his trembling body. A nightmare… That was the only way to explain it. One of the worst, most vivid nightmares he'd ever had in his life. But as he woke, the images that he'd seen as clear as day were fading; all he was left with were the feelings of despair. Even those disappeared the longer he remained awake. By the time he'd taken a shower, dressed, and went into the kitchen to make breakfast, nothing was left of the dream…

That was until he sat down at the table and reached for the newspaper left by the _Daily Prophet_ owl. The front page was covered with a bold headline reading _'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Has Disappeared!'._ Remus choked on his eggs and had to read the words five time before he really understood them. Hope that the words were true filled him—if they were true, it would mean the war was over; Lily, James, and Harry could come out of hiding… And then Remus actually read the article, needing to know for sure. A few phrases jumped out at him immediately: '_No sign of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has been found'… 'Auror James Potter and wife Lily dead… Young son Harry missing…'_

The newspaper fell from Remus' grip as he read those last words.

No, it couldn't be true. Lily and James were in hiding, under the Fidelius Charm. Sirius was their Secret-Keeper. Only the Secret-Keeper could have given away their location. The implication of what his mind was suggesting made his brain hazy, his heart ache. Everything he'd thought over the last year, everything he'd discovered about Sirius, it was all flooding back. Sirius had betrayed them. He'd given up Lily and James and Harry to Voldemort, and now they were all dead… No, that wasn't quite true… The paper said Harry was missing.

"Oh my god," Remus breathed, his eyes blurry, his cheeks inexplicably wet. "What have you done, Sirius?"

Remus didn't even twitch as a burst of flame appeared in the center of his table. He reached out with a shaking hand to pick up the roll of parchment that had fallen there. He knew who it was from, but it took long minutes for his fingers to cooperate long enough to untie the string that held the scroll closed and unroll the parchment. And it took even longer for Remus to keep his eyes from blurring long enough to read what had been written.

_Remus—_

_By now, I'm certain you have gained word of the unfortunate events of last night. It is my reluctant duty to inform you of the truth of the news. Lily and James Potter perished in the attempt to save their son from Lord Voldemort. I wish I could say their efforts were not in vain; however, Harry was not found in his parents' home as he should have been. _

_As you are aware, Sirius Black was Secret-Keeper for the Potters. There is only one conclusion I have been able to draw: Sirius was the traitor and the spy we have been searching for this past year. He was present in Godric's Hollow shortly following Voldemort's disappearance, and I believe he has taken young Harry. A search has been commenced, but nothing has yet been found. I will keep you informed. I am terribly sorry, Remus. I know what your friends meant to you._

_Sincerely, _

_Albus Dumbledore_

Remus stared at the letter for some time, not knowing what he should do now, who he should contact. Only when he heard a sudden knock on the front door did he jump, knocking over his cup of coffee all over the newspaper. He ignored it and went to answer the door.

Standing on his front porch, looking exactly as he felt was Allyson Wylde, best friend to Lily Potter since their first day at Hogwarts. Her brown hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, though most of it was sticking out in several different directions and looked as though she'd been running her hands through it for several hours. "Hi," she said in a hollow voice, her eyes looking somewhere around Remus' knee. "Have you heard the great news? Voldemort's gone."

She then collapsed against the wizard's chest and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

He returned the embrace, not the least bit surprised that she showed no signs of actually crying. He wasn't even completely certain that his friend's tear ducts functioned correctly. Remus led Allyson into the kitchen where he sat her down and placed a cup of coffee in front of her before sitting in his own recently vacated seat. He busied himself with cleaning up his spilled coffee and pushed away the newspaper and letter Dumbledore had sent. "What have you heard?" he asked hoarsely.

"Not much," she replied several minutes later, once she'd realized where she was. "I got a call last night around midnight and all I was told was that there had been an attack. I met up with Mad-Eye outside the Ministry and he told me what little he knew – that Lily and James' house was attacked and he didn't think they lived through it. He wouldn't let me go see for myself; he actually used a body-bind spell on me for over an hour. Dumbledore showed up, confirmed they had died and that Harry has gone missing. There's no sign of where he's gone – no…" She choked a moment on her emotions. "There isn't a body to prove he's been killed as well, so Dumbledore is convinced somebody took him."

"Where's Sirius?" Remus asked, not quite ready to discuss Harry yet.

Allyson's face hardened. "I don't know," she said. "I went to his flat, but he wasn't there. His motorbike was gone." She sighed and began to sip at her coffee, then quite suddenly slammed her fists on the table. "We trusted him, Remus! How could he do this to us?"

Remus remained quite silent as he stared at his kitchen table. He thought it showed incredible self restraint not to point out to his angry, Auror-trained friend that he had been saying for months that he believed Sirius Black couldn't be trusted.

"And the worst part," the witch beside him began, her voice quite controlled now, "is that half the Auror squads have been given the weekend off to celebrate Voldemort's disappearance, and hardly anybody is bothered by the fact that the man who sold our best friends to Voldemort and quite possibly kidnapped their son is still out there somewhere. Mad-Eye and Dumbledore are the only ones who seem to find it important to search for them."

Remus sighed. "I take it you'll be joining their search?" Allyson nodded. "So will I," he said quietly.

"I figured as much," Allyson muttered as he stood to go change his clothes.

* * *

Three days later, Remus, wearing his best dress robes, Apparated to a cemetery in London only known by those in the wizarding community. He walked mechanically up the hill with Allyson and through the gates, not even glancing at those who'd stood guard keeping reporters and those who didn't belong there out. Dumbledore stood towards the front wearing black dress robes—Remus could never remember the Headmaster in such a plain color, nor could he recall seeing such a grave expression on the elder wizard's face.

"Hello, Remus, Allyson," Dumbledore said somberly, shaking their hands.

Remus nodded his greeting, his voice lost as he laid eyes on three caskets—two of which were open, but the third was closed and much smaller than the ones on either side of it.

_It's for Harry,_ his mind supplied. _But it's empty, because Harry is gone. Sirius took him and has probably killed him by now._

Allyson reached out with quick reflexes and grabbed Remus around the waist before he fell to the ground in sudden, overwhelming grief and led him to the closest chair. Remus buried his face in his hands and cried, just as he'd been doing for three days. He didn't know how long he sat like this, nor when Allyson had gotten up from his side, but it couldn't have been too long; when a hand grasped his shoulder and he looked around, people were just starting to fill the seats. He looked up into the face of the man whose had was still gripping his shoulder and felt only mild shock.

"Peter," Remus said hoarsely as the wizard sat beside him. He could vaguely see Allyson talking to Mad-Eye Moody in a corner. "Where've you been?"

Peter Pettigrew, looking quite shaken up, sighed heavily. "I've been with my aunt, visiting her cousin in France. I-I only just head the news last night and I came back as soon as I could."

Remus sniffed and nodded. "They're gone, Pete… All of them…"

"I know," Peter said, his voice tight. Further conversation was put on hold as Allyson sat on Peter's other side and the Minister of Magic stood to begin the funeral.

* * *

Hundreds of miles away, in a small abandoned cabin on the inside edge of the Forest of Dean, Sirius Black sat on a tattered sofa watching his young godson sleep on top of a blanket he'd found in a closet. He thought back to Halloween night and seeing his two best friends dead. It hadn't taken much thought on his part to figure out _how_ it'd happened—Wormtail had betrayed them. The little rat had convinced Sirius to switch Secret-Keepers and all along he'd been one of Voldemort's supporters. For months, Sirius had believed Remus was the one who'd gone over to the dark side; he'd told Lily and James as much, though they'd never really believed it could be possible. The problem now was that the entire world, Dumbledore and Remus included, thought he, Sirius, had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper. And they probably also believed he'd betrayed them. Sirius knew the Ministry would be after him within hours, and unless Peter confessed his betrayal, Sirius would be chucked straight into Azkaban. That was something he couldn't risk, not now that he had Harry to care for. He'd found the little boy behind his mother, his forehead covered in blood. Just holding Harry sparked the need for Sirius to take him to run. If he was taken to Azkaban, who knew what would happen to Harry. He'd probably be sent to some foster family—the Ministry would never let Remus have him due to their stance against werewolves and it had never been made official that Allyson was named his godmother.

_But what do we do now?_ Sirius wondered, reaching down to run a finger across the child's cheek. Harry whimpered a little and turned on his side, still sleeping soundly. _I can't just walk into the Ministry of Magic with him—after they hex me, they'll take him away and I'll never see him again. And I can't let that happen… Not now…_

He'd promised Lily and James when Harry was first born that if anything were to happen to them, he would take Harry and raise him as he would his own son. He'd already broken one promise to the Potters—the one about keeping them safe from Voldemort—and he was in no hurry to break another.

It hadn't fully hit him yet that he'd never again see James with that mischievous glint in his hazel eyes or Lily try to keep a straight face during the telling of a prank the Marauders had pulled in school. He'd been more preoccupied with the fact that he was no longer just a carefree bachelor—now he was responsible for a life and on the run from everything he ever knew. And there was also the thought of what he would do to Peter if he ever met him again.

_What's this 'if'_ _business?_ his mind asked him. _You will see Wormtail again and he will pay for what he's done. But for now, you need to lay low…_

He figured a week or so in hiding out might be enough; the Ministry would lose interest. That, however, was wishful thinking at its best. Unbeknownst to Sirius as he lay down beside his sleeping godson—he wouldn't know for a few days until he ventured to send for a copy of the _Daily Prophet_—that the Ministry of Magic was searching the country high and low for him and Harry.

A life in hiding… That's how the Boy-Who-Lived would be raised for at least the next few years of his life. He would grow to only know his godfather. The small cabin they'd picked for their hideout would be fixed up and covered in wards and charms to keep the Ministry off their trail. They themselves wouldn't live as recluses, but would wear glamour charms and adopt fake names whenever they left the safety of their home. It wasn't exactly how Lily and James Potter envisioned their son would grow up, but it was the best Sirius could do for the time being. As long as Harry was happy and healthy, nothing else mattered.

* * *

Peter opened the front door of Remus' cottage four days after the funeral of the Potter family and entered. "Remus?" he called out when he didn't immediately find his friend. "Moony, are you home?" He sighed when there was no answer. Remus had been quite withdrawn over the last few days, and understandably so—he'd just lost two of his best friends and the boy he considered his nephew, all to a man who was supposed to be his brother.

Or at least, that's what Remus believed.

Peter was the only person besides Sirius who knew the truth. He hadn't been in France with his aunt when the Dark Lord had gone for Lily and James; he'd been hiding out in his own home, pondering what he'd just done. It had been a necessity, he'd convinced himself. The Dark Lord would have killed him if he hadn't been able to hand over the Potters. He felt guilty, sure, but he ignored those feelings unless he was completely alone. He may have bore the Dark Mark, but he wasn't unfeeling. James had been a great friend to him and Peter would miss him…

Now, however, he was mostly thankful that no one suspected him. It'd been his own idea to keep the switch of Secret-Keepers from Sirius to himself a secret and as long as he kept everyone thinking that Sirius was the traitor and he'd stolen Harry, he'd never be found out, and he wouldn't have to finish out his life in Azkaban.

Fighting back an incredulous smile at how well his life was turning out, Peter went to Remus' bedroom, finding his friend still fast asleep even though it was nearing noon. Sighing, Peter quietly closed the door and went to Remus' kitchen for a butterbeer—he'd wait for Remus to wake.

But when he'd arrived in the kitchen, he met something odd: a brown barn owl swooping through the open window. It dropped a letter at Peter's feet, hooted solemnly, and left. The wizards stooped to pick it up and nearly dropped it again when he saw the handwriting on the front. He stifled a yelp by stuffing his fist into his mouth and went to the table to sit. The handwriting belonged to Sirius—how many times had Peter seen it? But why would Sirius be writing to Remus when he was supposed to be on the run from the Ministry? With wide eyes and trembling fingers, Peter opened the letter and read:

_Moony,_

_I know you're probably surprised to hear from me, but I hope you'll read this instead of just burning it. Regardless of what you and that ticking bomb we call Allyson think right now, I have not betrayed Lily and James. I was never their Secret-Keeper—it was Peter. We switched at the last minute. I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but I was convinced you were the spy. I was blind, Remus. I didn't see the signs right in front of my eyes, no matter how obvious they made themselves at times. The only thing I could see where what my mind thought I wanted to see, that you had turned spy. It was my trust in the wrong person that led to the deaths of our best friends, and there is no way for me to begin correcting this very bad decision. I've never been more wrong in my life and for this you have my most humble apologies and I can only hope that with time, you will see the truth in what I have said._

_I won't tell you where I am in case you decide you don't believe me and take this letter to the Ministry, but I wanted you to know that Harry is with me—he's alive, Remus, and he's well. The _Prophet_ has said much different, I've noticed, but what they've said is not all true. I don't know how long Harry and I will be gone; maybe we'll leave the country for a while—I wouldn't mind a vacation after the last few years, personally. Regardless of our decision, I will keep you informed regularly. Take care of yourself, Remus, and of Allyson. I imagine you're going through much the same amount of emotions as I am. We'll get through this somehow, my friend. _

_Until then, _

_Harry & Sirius_

Breathing heavily, Peter looked over his shoulder and down the hall to where Remus' bedroom door was still shut. Remus could never see this letter… Peter took out his wand, touched the tip to the parchment, and set fire to it. Once it had burned, he waved his wand over the ashes, making them disappear. Peter would have to be far more vigilant than he'd thought from now on. It seemed this whole keeping-self-out-of-Azkaban thing wouldn't be as easy as he originally thought.

* * *

**A/N: **If you've read, please review!


	2. Christmas

Six weeks following the deaths of Lily and James Potter and the disappearance of their son Harry, the wizarding world was still adjusting to being able to wander around freely without the fear of attack. With Christmas just around the corner, Remus Lupin, Allyson Wylde, and Peter Pettigrew walked through Diagon Alley without the cheeriness possessed by their fellow wizards. Certainly it was wonderful that Lord Voldemort was gone and the constant weight was lifted off their shoulders, but none of them could find a way to be happy knowing that they so much lost so much in such a short period of time.

Though Aurors continued the search for young Harry Potter and his alleged kidnapper Sirius Black, they had all but given up hope of finding him alive. The moment Mad-Eye Moody had pulled Allyson into his office to break the news to her that the official search for her godson would end shortly, instead of screaming and breaking her mentor's personal belongings as she believed she would have, she had taken her Auror badge from her robes, quite calmly placed it on Mad-Eye's desk, and walked out of the Ministry without a word to anybody. She hadn't been back since despite the twenty-five owls she'd received from Mad-Eye stating that he refused to accept her resignation.

Since then, she and Remus had been conducting their own searches for Harry and Sirius, though admittedly, weren't having much luck. They had setup wards in Sirius' London flat to alert them immediately should the traitor return there for any reason, as well as wards on their own homes. While the only one of them that feared Sirius in the least was Peter, neither Remus nor Allyson wanted to be caught off guard should their old friend decide to pay them a visit.

"Idiots," Allyson muttered in annoyance as they passed a group of giggling witches discussing the importance of charmed lip gloss that changed flavors to suit the preferences of the wizard they were snogging at the time. "Why are we even here?"

Remus sighed, his hands stuffed in his pockets as they walked. "Because if we can't continue sitting at home trying to drink away our depression," he said in a tone that suggested he'd been through this with his friend far too many times already. "Besides, I really doubt Lily and James would appreciate the way we've been behaving."

"Oh shut up, Lupin," Allyson said with little conviction. "There isn't any point in trying to celebrate Christmas this year. It's a holiday all about family, isn't it? None of us have any family left."

Remus stopped very suddenly and grabbed the witch's arm to halt her progress. "We've got each other," he said quietly but very firmly, looking around at Peter as he listened on. "Our lives aren't over, Ally. Yes, we've just suffered a terrible loss, but we have to go on, no matter how difficult it may be. The two of you are all I have left and I'm not just going to sit around and watch either of you sink further into anger and depression and vengeance. That's what Voldemort fed on." He completely blocked out the sudden yelps of shock speaking the Dark Lord's name had caused from those around him, Peter included. "Just because the war has physically ended, we're still fighting. We're fighting to keep our sanity and if we turn away from each other, they're still going to win." He let go of the witch's arm. "Go home and wallow in self pity if you want, but I'm going to do my best to enjoy my Christmas holiday."

He turned and began walking down Diagon Alley again, and didn't show any reaction when he felt Allyson catch up and match his steps again.

* * *

"Come on, Harry," Sirius said tiredly over the baby's piercing screams. Harry had started crying right around sunrise that morning and though it was nearing dinnertime, he still hadn't stopped. Nothing Sirius had done was calming him—he'd tried playing with the boy by tossing him in the air, a game he loved every other time; he'd made colorful smoke rings come out of his wand, which for some reason had only made Harry cry harder; he'd even attempted to give him cocoa in his favorite sippy cup shaped like a monkey.

The wizard put Harry in his highchair and began tapping his fingers on the tray, trying to think of other ways to soothe his godson. When Harry took up his hand and stuffed a finger in his mouth, he'd looked at his godson oddly. When Harry chomped down on said finger, he'd bitten his own lip to keep from swearing in pain. But when his nearly bloody finger felt something protruding from his godson's gum, something that hadn't been there before, Sirius realized why Harry had been so upset that day. He quickly removed his finger from Harry's mouth and knelt down to gently pry it open to have a look. Indeed, along with the two top front and one bottom teeth he already had, Harry was growing another tooth. Sirius laughed and shook his head. He should have known; he'd already dealt with a teething baby several times and knew the signs. With a ruffle of Harry's black tuft of hair, Sirius headed over to the freezer to retrieve something to soothe the boy's pain. The closest thing he could find to a teething toy was a frozen carrot. Hoping it would do until Sirius could get out and buy the proper cure, he handed the carrot to his godson, who promptly stuck it in his mouth and began sucking on it.

"All better now?" Sirius asked, picking the boy up again. Harry was now quite silent and content to nibbling on the carrot. He placed Harry in a playpen in a corner of the room before sitting back down at his desk to continue work on his Christmas letter to Remus.

He'd made good on his promise to keep Remus updated on everything that was happening with Harry, and though it had only been a couple months, this letter was nearly two pages long as he described in detail Harry's attempts to walk and to talk. He quickly finished the last paragraph before signing his and Harry's names with a flourish and rereading.

On Christmas Eve, Sirius decided to send his letter to Remus. He hoped, if nothing else, it would brighten up his holiday. Of course he'd considered the option that the moment Remus read the letter, he would show it to Allyson, and then Allyson would spend her entire holiday thinking of ways to murder Sirius. But he couldn't think of any reasons not to send the letter—he'd made certain there was no way for his old friends to track it to where Sirius and Harry were hiding; he'd performed the charms himself. And he really hoped Remus would read the letter once and head off to Dumbledore's office to clear his friend's name.

Naturally, he knew he was still hoping for too much right now. It had been just under two months since Lily and James Potter were murdered, and he was quite certain the anger and feeling of betrayal hadn't faded away from anyone's minds just yet.

With Harry asleep in one of the cabin bedrooms Sirius had fixed up, he began to arrange all of his godson's gifts beneath the tree he'd gotten—he was determined to give Harry the best holiday possible. When they had first arrived, the abandoned cabin had looked barely inhabitable—windows were broken, there was a hole in the roof over the bathroom, what little furniture had been there was destroyed by some sort of animal, and there had been a mysterious stench filling the cabin that he still hadn't located, but had been able to cover. Now the place actually looked like something that resembled a home. The repairs were done, furniture was repaired or replaced, lights were hanging everywhere along with photographs of Sirius' friends. Harry's room looked much like the one he'd had in Godric's Hollow: the pale blue carpet matched the painted walls; above the cot was a mobile that featured a stag, wolf, and a dog; when the lights were turned off, moving silhouettes shaped like Quidditch balls, moons, and stars appeared on the ceiling and remained in place so long as the child watching them remained awake. It was the best he could do for his godson right now, at least until some of the mania with hunting Sirius down as the Potters' betrayer faded a bit.

Every time he lay in bed at night, unable to sleep due to thoughts of his friends and what he could have done differently, Sirius stared at the ceiling and thought of a place he'd only seen twice. As far as he knew, Remus hadn't even been there—every one of Sirius' visits had happened to coincide with the full moon, so he had been unable to join Sirius and James. It was, by all accounts, a house—Sirius thought manor fit a bit better—that had been in the Potter family for generations. During the time Sirius and James had been in school, James' grandparents had lived there, and though when they had died it was supposed to be passed on to James' father, Harrison Potter had decided to continue living in the modest home they'd occupied since he had married his wife. Regardless, the place was absolutely amazing. It held a staff of five house-elves who had been in the family since the house was built and each and every one of them had their own personality when it came to how they did their job. On the first level was a sitting room, large formal dining room, and eat-in kitchen that seemed to have just about any type of food a person could possibly want. The second level was the activities area with music room, library, and even a bathtub that quite resembled the ones in the Prefect bathrooms at Hogwarts. The third level were where the bedrooms were located. Nobody was quite certain how many bedrooms had originally been built into the house; regardless of the number of inhabitants, the third level adjusted itself to fit them. During the times Sirius had visited with James, the bedroom they had shared had been particularly incredible. The inside had been magically enlarged so that a second level appeared inside the bedroom that led to a room the two Marauders hadn't ever been able to go through completely. The bits they had been able to see had been full of pranking books, supplies, and anything else they could think of to flawlessly cause mischief without being caught.

By far, the greatest part of the house had been the indoor Quidditch pitch in the basement. Though he had spent the majority of his time with James in this area, he always felt rather surprised when he realized they were indoors. The hoops were the standard fifty feet in the air and far enough from the opposing hoops for the game to still be fun. Even if the person playing there had been alone, the bludgers still chased after the Chasers, trying to knock the players off their broom, and the Golden Snitch used was charmed to choose its own time limit for the game. Sirius clearly recalled one game that had gone on between himself and James that had lasted nearly a day and a half.

Now that James Potter was dead, the house automatically belonged to his only living child. Though Sirius was eager to get back to that incredible place, he believed it was too much to hope for that Dumbledore had never heard of it and wasn't keeping a close eye on it. Sirius had been tempted to check the wards on his own and nearly had the other night while Harry had slept, but that annoying voice in the back of his mind, the one Lily always claimed was his conscience, screamed at him not to be an idiot, that if something happened to him while he'd gone exploring, what would happen to Harry?

With a heavy sigh, hoping he would be able to take his godson somewhere with others besides himself to interact with soon, Sirius finished arranging the Christmas gifts before glancing out the window—by the looks of it, there would be a very fresh layer of snow the moment they woke in the morning—before turning out the lights and heading to bed.

* * *

"Happy Christmas," said a toneless voice over Remus' shoulder. He turned away from the newspaper on his kitchen table to find Allyson standing behind him, a small box in red paper and a bow held out to him.

He smiled. "I thought you didn't want to celebrate the holiday," he teased, gesturing for her to follow him to the sitting room.

She rolled her eyes and tossed the box at him. He laughed and retrieved the gift he'd gotten for her. "Where's Peter?" she asked when she'd received her package. She was looking around behind the Christmas tree as though expecting Peter to pop out from behind it.

Remus sighed and sat beside her on the floor in front of the fireplace. "He's decided to spend the day with his mother," he said, giving Allyson a pointed look.

Her eyebrows rose. "Isn't his mother still in St. Mungo's, unable to discern Peter from a pineapple?"

Remus nodded. Several months ago, Mrs. Pettigrew had been taken to the wizarding hospital after a failed attempt by somebody to place her under the Imperius Curse. Since then, Peter had been in quite the odd mood. He'd visited his mother on every holiday, even leaving Order meetings or dinners with his friends to be with her. Remus and his friends had been unable to think of a way to cheer him up and had decided to just be available should he need somebody to talk to. "Peter said her Healer was optimistic about a new treatment and should be administering it in the New Year."

"Hmm," Allyson muttered to herself, now looking at the gifts under the tree. There were far too many there to only be for the two of them. While Remus was occupied with stirring the fire, she reached over to the nearest package and had a look at the name. She sighed heavily. "Remus," she said quietly. He made a noise that indicated he was listening. "Why is there a pile of gifts under here for Harry?"

She watched her best friend for several minutes, knowing he had heard her and was just trying to find the right way to explain the reasoning for what he'd decided to do. "Because when we find him," Remus finally said very quietly, "he should have some presents to open up, don't you think?"

Allyson stared at his back, unable to respond due to the slight fear that if she opened her mouth she might start crying. Out of everything that had happened in the last few months, the one thing that had hit Remus the hardest had been Harry's disappearance. Allyson tried to be optimistic by telling herself that perhaps Harry had just crawled away from the wreckage when Voldemort had murdered his parents and maybe some Muggle family had found him or something. But when she was alone in her home, crying when nobody was looking, she knew there could be no way—Harry Potter, even if he had survived after his parents' had died, something no grown wizard had ever managed, was gone.

Remus refused to believe this. Every time Allyson came to see him over the last few months, she noticed little things that proved this point. For example, last week when she'd come to take him for dinner, his coffee table had been covered in maps and notes of places he's been searching for Harry and Sirius. The Christmas presents under the tree were the most obvious thing so far. Perhaps he believed that if he hoped long enough, Harry would one day just show up on his doorstep. And Allyson could never find a way to shoot down his hopeful theories.

She looked back over to her friend still hunched over the fire and cleared her throat. "Er, you want to go out for some Chinese?" she asked tentatively.

His shoulders began to shake and for a moment she froze in fear, thinking he was crying. But when he finally turned to look at her, he was grinning. "You know, it is okay to be upset," he said after standing and helping her up. "And it's even okay to show you're upset."

Allyson picked up their gifts for each other, linked her arm with Remus' and nodded. "But you've known me since first year," she reminded him. "When have you ever known me to show emotions besides anger?"

"This is true," he replied, chuckling. "Come along, my dear, I'm quite looking forward to my Christmas Moo Goo Gai Pan."

She snorted as they walked out the door. "You don't really like that, you just like saying it."

As they Apparated to Muggle London, Remus was laughing for the first time in weeks.

* * *

Later that evening, Peter Pettigrew Apparated into Remus' backyard. He'd just come from the hospital where his mother had spent the evening talking to a fruit basket, thinking she was actually carrying on a conversation with her son. With a sigh, he stepped on Remus' back porch and, noticing a light in the sitting room, entered through the door.

"Remus?" he called, walking through the house to find his friend.

An owl hooted down the hall in the bedroom, and Peter laughed at his own jumpiness before going to investigate. A barn owl was sitting on Remus' windowsill, a letter in his beak. Blood draining from his face, Peter approached and took the letter from the bird—it hooted again and flew off into the snow. Peter turned the letter over in his hands knowing who the letter was from before he saw Sirius' familiar handwriting. Looking over his shoulder to make certain he was still alone, he opened the envelope with shaking hands and read the latest letter from Sirius.

Just as he had with the first letter, Peter knew immediately what to do with this one: He took Sirius' letter out to the backyard and set it on fire in the snow. As the flame went out, he heard Remus and Allyson enter the house and returned to wish them a Happy Christmas.


	3. Harry's Birthday

**A/N:** This chapter has been rewritten to improve the plot flow and placate my own paranoid mind.

* * *

Nearly three and a half years later, in the early hours on a Saturday morning, a small boy tiptoed through the halls of the cabin home he shared with his godfather wearing only a pair of red flannel pajama bottoms. He'd set his alarm specially so he'd be awake before Sirius. In one of his small hands, he carried a blue balloon filled with water from the bathroom tap. Every week he tried to wake Sirius with some sort of prank. Last week, he'd covered his godfather's hands with shaving cream and tickled his face with a feather; the week before that he'd stuck Sirius' hand in a glass of water, then filled his slippers with pudding, so that when he made a dash for the bathroom, his feet would be covered in the dessert. Today's plan was a little beneath Harry's usual pranking standards, but it would do the job nicely. Besides, the prank had to go quickly so Sirius could keep his promise to Harry. The boy had been looking forward to this for weeks and the day was finally there.

Biting his lip, Harry pushed open the door and had to stuff his fist into his mouth to stifle the sudden urge to burst out laughing at the sight that met him: his normally well-mannered, refined godfather was sprawled out on his bed, his blankets wrapped around his appendages, and his head resting in a puddle of drool that had been falling out of his wide open mouth since he'd wandered to bed only hours before. Once he had his amusement under control, as quietly as he could manage, he snuck into the room and climbed up on the bed. He crawled over Sirius and sat down on his chest, fighting a giggle at the sudden loud snort that escaped from the wizards mouth and nose. But just as Harry raised his arm, prepared to smash the balloon on Sirius' head, his godfather's grey eyes snapped open. Harry yelped in surprise and tried to scramble away, but he was too slow. Sirius pulled him back, grinning widely, and began tickling the boy's ribs while he shrieked and giggled. The water balloon fell from Harry's grip to the floor where it burst—neither paid any attention.

"Sirius!" cried Harry, his face red with laughter as he tried to push his godfather's hand away. "Sirius, stop!"

"What's the magic word?" Sirius said over Harry's voice.

"Accio!" shrieked Harry, falling to the bed as Sirius finally stopped the assault on his bare ribs. Panting heavily and still giggling, Harry turned to face his godfather. "Morning, Sirius."

Still grinning, Sirius responded, "Good morning, Harry. And Happy Birthday. How's it feel to be five years old?"

Harry shrugged, smiling. "Good," he said simply. "Can we still do what you said we could do?"

Sirius frowned in thought. "What did I say we could do, I don't remember…?"

Harry's mouth dropped open. "Sirius!" he said, knowing his godfather was putting him on. "You promised!"

"Did I?" Sirius asked in mock-surprise. Harry pulled his pout-face, with his bottom lip sticking out and his eyes wide, making him resemble a very cute puppy dog. As much amusement as Sirius found in that particular expression, even he couldn't find it in himself to tease the kid on his birthday, "Alright, alright, put that lip away before an owl flies in here." Harry's expression cleared immediately and his bright, infectious smile was back in place. "But before we go to Diagon Alley, we need to eat breakfast. How does pancakes and bacon sound, pup?"

"Really good!" Harry said, jumping out of bed and going to the door. "Come on, Padfoot!"

"Bossy little thing today," Sirius muttered without any conviction as he got out of bed and followed his godson to the kitchen. Harry was already was already pulling a chair over to the counter to access the cabinets. "You do realize that it's six in the morning and Diagon Alley doesn't open this early, don't you?" Harry ignored him as he climbed up on the counters and began searching for the ingredients for their breakfast. "And I've told you a hundred times not to climb on the counters. I don't have time to scrape up your remains off the floor." He grabbed Harry around the middle and lowered him to the tiled floor.

Harry merely stuck his tongue out at Sirius while the wizard began gathering everything they needed and sat at the table. "But I wanna help!"

Yawning heavily, Sirius nodded and took a bowl over to the table filled with pancake mix and water. "You can help my mixing this. Do you want blueberries or chocolate chips in your pancakes?"

Harry thought for a moment as he began to stir the bowl's contents. "Peanut butter," he said decisively after a moment, his tongue poking out of his mouth as he concentrated on his stirring.

"That wasn't an option," Sirius said with a sigh, pulling out the peanut butter from the cabinet nevertheless.

"Can we go to the joke shop?" Harry asked. "And the Quidditch shop and the magical animal shop and—"

"Whoa, Harry, calm down." Sirius laughed at his godson's eagerness. "We've got all day, so we'll have plenty of time to do all that. But we've still got a lot to do before we leave."

"What d'we hafta do?"

Sirius sighed as he scrambled the eggs. Even after three and a half years, he still hadn't gotten used to putting Harry under his glamour charm and reminding him that they had to pretend to be other people for the day. Harry always liked their outings; he thought it was fin, like they were playing some sort of adventure game instead of what they were actually doing. Every time they left their cabin, they were taking a great risk of being caught by the Ministry of Magic. Only a year ago had their covers nearly been blown by an accidental slip from Harry. Sirius still hadn't gotten past the feeling of fear when Harry had fallen in the middle of Diagon Alley and called for him not by his fake name, but his real one. Luckily, the place had been packed with shoppers that day and no one had thought twice about the little blond boy crying at the top of his lungs or the man who looked almost exactly like him who'd come running to comfort him. Sirius hadn't taken Harry out of their home for six months after that unless it was for a fly in the clearing not far from them or sneaking into the neighboring town for groceries. Sirius had had to tell Harry over and over that he didn't blame the boy for what happened, that accidents happened. But Harry still thought he'd been bad and he cried himself to sleep for a week afterwards.

_It's my own fault really,_ Sirius thought idly, mixing chocolate chips into the pancake batter. _How could I expect a four-year-old to keep up this charade when he falls down and scrapes his knee?_

"Sirius, are you listening?" the child always on his mind said.

The wizard looked away from his breakfast preparations and smiled. "Sorry, pup, spaced out for a minute. Come here and help me with these pancakes."

Harry hopped off his chair, dragged it over to Sirius, and looked up expectantly; Sirius picked Harry up under his arms and set him on the chair. "I'll hold the bowl, while you take the spoon, and scoop a little bit of the batter into the pan." Harry took up the spoon, stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, and carefully followed his godfather's instructions. "Very good, Harry," Sirius said, ruffling the boy's hair. "You'll be a gourmet chef in no time."

Harry beamed. Together godfather and godson made their breakfast. Harry set the table, getting the orange juice from the refrigerator with both hands. In between bites of syrupy pancake, bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast, Harry continued telling Sirius where he wanted to go that day. Sirius listened patiently as he ate his own breakfast, wondering if Harry would bring up the one thing all other children looked forward to above all others or if he was too excited about the Diagon Alley trip. By the end of breakfast, he'd settled for the latter.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Harry?" he asked innocently as he cleared the table. Harry looked at him in confusion. Sirius smiled fondly and turned away from the sink. "_Presents_, Harry."

The child's face lit up and he began hopping around the kitchen in excitement.

The wizard led the way down the hall into his bedroom where Harry jumped back onto Sirius' bed and waited expectantly. With a snort, the wizard shook his head and headed to the closet to grab the small stack of wrapped gifts from the top shelf. Regardless of their current situation, Sirius had done everything possible to make Harry's experience a pleasant one. He'd gotten much better about hiding his concern from his godson—something that had taken six months—and it was now very rare that Harry saw him truly upset or worried by something. "All right, pup," Sirius said, sitting beside the child who was now positively shaking in anticipation. "Happy birthday."

Harry beamed at him before grabbing the first gift off the stack. When he ripped off the wrapping paper, he found a pile of coloring books and a large package of crayons. Sirius hoped this would curve the boy's enthusiasm from drawing on the cabin walls. The next gift was the usual enormous package of Harry's favorite wizard sweets, which he received for birthdays, Christmas, and whenever Sirius thought he'd been behaving long enough to actually deserve it. Harry received socks, some new shirts and pants that would fit him after his most recent growth spurt, a set of magical creature figures that acted as the real animals did—the dragon breathed fire that was cool to the touch so as not to burn the child playing with it; the owls flew around the house, carrying small objects in their beaks or talons; and so on.

Sirius smiled widely when Harry reached the last present in the stack. It was part one of two gifts and the wizard watched excitedly as Harry tore the wrapping paper off a brand-new set of children's Quidditch robes. Harry looked at him questioningly, his eyes shining brightly, but not wanting to jump to conclusions just yet. Sirius had told Harry several times that when he was old enough, he would get his very own broomstick that flew higher than five feet in the air, and Sirius would begin to give him flying lessons.

"That's right," Sirius told Harry, taking the Quidditch robes and placing them over Harry's pajamas before carrying him to the front door of the cabin. "Your very overprotective godfather who still fears the wrath of your mother has decided it's high time that you learned how to fly." He knew Harry didn't understand half of what he had said, but the words that mattered had registered in the five-year-old's mind: _learn how to fly_.

It took a moment for the meaning of the sentence to really hit Harry's mind and Sirius fought back a laugh the moment it did: he watched as his godson's face contorted from puzzlement to excitement in a span of three seconds. "You mean it?" Harry asked loudly, bouncing up and down as Sirius set him back on the floor. "I can have my own broom and fly and everything?"

Sirius nodded as he opened the front door. "I certainly do mean it," he said, leading Harry by the hand to the side of the cabin where two broomsticks rested against the wall. One was a full-size regulation Nimbus Two-Fifty and beside it was a broomstick about half the size—a child's training broomstick. "But!" Harry stopped suddenly as he began to sprint towards the brooms. He looked back at Sirius and the wizard could see a tantrum building up very quickly. "We should go to Diagon Alley first, get our shopping done, and then you can fly around to your heart's content."

Harry stomped poutily back to the wizard. "But I want to fly now!"

"Yes," Sirius said, taking Harry's hand again and heading back inside. "And ten minutes ago, you were dying to get to Diagon Alley." Harry sighed rather dramatically. "Go take off those robes and put on your clothes."

"Can't I wear them today?" Harry asked, heading to his own bedroom.

"No, you cannot," Sirius said in an unusually stern voice. "You can put them back on when we get back. Go change, please."

Harry stuck his tongue out when he thought Sirius wasn't looking—Sirius saw him do it in the mirror above the fireplace—but headed to his bedroom nonetheless. In the meantime, the wizard sat on the sofa and did what he seemed to do every year around Harry's birthday: he wondered what would be different if Lily and James were still around. While Sirius did his best to give Harry everything he wanted and at the same time tried not to spoil him, he knew that if the boy's parents hadn't been murdered his stack of birthday gifts would be much taller. Of course, more than one person would have been doing the giving—Remus, Allyson, the Longbottoms, other friends of the Potters… But now that was impossible. He wondered often if Remus had ever attempted a reply to one of the many letters Sirius had sent. And Frank and Alice Longbottom… Their fate had been terrible and Sirius had grieved for them for days. It'd been horrible, reading about them in the _Daily Prophet_, and knowing that somebody he shared blood with had caused that. But Frank and Alice had been wonderful people and friends, and according to the papers, they'd fought like heroes to save their son.

_Just like Lily and James…_

"Sirius?" Harry said, having changed by now. "Why are you crying?"

Sirius hastily swiped at his eyes and cleared his throat. "I'm not crying, pup," he said in a thick voice, trying to smile. Harry didn't believe him; he never did. The boy climbed into his lap and put his small arms around the wizard's neck. Sirius hugged him back tightly. "I love you, pup."

"Love you, Sirius," Harry said quietly, his face buried in the crook of Sirius' shoulder.

* * *

A few hours later, the mess from the wrapping paper was cleaned up, Harry's new gifts were put in his room, and godfather and godson were standing in their sitting room, preparing to leave for Diagon Alley. Before they left, Sirius knelt to Harry's level.

"Okay, Harry," he said solemnly. "We're going out into public today. Just to review, who am I?"

Harry rolled his eyes and responded in a bored voice that suggested he had been through this with Sirius dozens of times. "You're my daddy, Malcolm Price. I'm Gabriel. My mummy died when I was a baby and we moved here from Spain right after."

Sirius nodded. "All right, ready?" Harry nodded and Sirius tapped the top of his head with his wand. It was like a glass of bleach had been poured over Harry's head—his hair turned completely white and shortened so that it wasn't nearly so untidy. His complexion darkened a tad, giving him an even tan all over his body; and his eyes went from emerald green to dark blue. When Sirius had been working out the glamour charms, he'd spent hours trying to talk his mind out of the idea that Harry's eyes now looked exactly like Allyson's.

Now it was Sirius' turn. The changes over himself were just as drastic: his long black hair was shortened and lightened to match Harry's almost exactly; his own complexion became paler than he was used to; the gray eyes that were standard among the Blacks were replaced with a warm brown. He became skinnier than he'd ever been, giving him a rather lanky look. And the final touch: a pair of oval glasses. He was now Malcolm Price. "Okay, pup, let's go," he said in a voice that was about two octaves higher than his normal voice. Sirius had never seen any reason to change Harry's voice; he knew that a charm like that performed on a small child had a chance of affecting the child's vocal chords when they hit puberty, and Sirius wasn't going to risk it unnecessarily. And nobody in the wizarding world had known Harry after he started speaking clearly, so there wasn't much risk of anyone recognizing his voice like there would be with Sirius.

"Can we Floo?" Harry asked, running his hands over his shortened hair.

The wizard sighed. He had connected their fireplace to the Floo network under a fake name a few years ago in order to travel through the magical world safely—Apparition with a young child increased the chances of fatal splinchings—but he didn't like using it very often; if one person happened to accidentally reach their fireplace by mistake, they would see Harry Potter and Sirius Black, both of whom were believed to be missing and possibly dead. Nothing good could come from it. But at the same time, it had been months since they'd used the Floo…

"I suppose," Sirius told his godson. He'd been quite surprised to find that Harry very much enjoyed this method of travel—James had always hated it.

With Harry in his arms, Sirius stepped into the fireplace, tossed a handful of Floo powder at his feet, and said, "Diagon Alley!" They disappeared in a whirl of green flames.

* * *

Remus sat at a table in the Leaky Cauldron, a full bottle of butterbeer sitting neglected in front of him. He, Allyson, and Peter had made plans to meet today for lunch, since Peter was rarely seen by his friends anymore. He'd received a promotion within the Ministry a year ago—he'd worked in the Floo regulation department after Hogwarts. His promotion had taken him to the Improper Use of Magic department and it included a rather significant pay raise and his own office. Allyson had decided to return to the Ministry as an Auror a few years ago. Though her anger that they had not taken the search for Harry and Sirius seriously enough was still very much in place, she'd loved her job, and she was not a person who did well sitting at home doing nothing for weeks at a time.

While his best friends succeeded in the working world, Remus was still in-between jobs as he had been since his Hogwarts graduation. Both of them had offered numerous times to help get him a job in the Ministry, but Remus always politely refused. "I'll find my own work," he always said. Numerous times he'd thought about swallowing his pride and allowing his friends to help him out, but he knew he would never be satisfied if he couldn't get a job on his own merit.

The fireplace filled with green flames and Remus looked over automatically, wondering if it was finally Peter—Allyson had owled before he'd left his home an hour ago to let him know she was running much later than she thought she might. It wasn't Peter, though; it was just some man and his young son. Remus smiled slightly at the boy's laugh and exclamation that he wanted to do that again. The man laughed and ruffled the child's hair.

"Later, Gabe," he promised. "Now it's time to shop." The pair passed Remus' table without seeing him and Remus had half a mind to call out to them. He resisted with great effort and mentally raised a confused eyebrow at himself.

_I've never seen either of them in my life. The man looks to be my age, maybe a year or two younger, but I don't know him. Why do I feel so strongly about calling out to them?_

_Because you know what today is and that boy would be just around Harry's age, _his mind said.

_That makes no sense,_ he chided himself. _There are hundreds, thousands of children that age. Why would this one in particular give me this feeling?_

Remus knew of course that he was being stupid. Harry Potter was dead, everybody knew that—Sirius Black had killed him. It was true that no physical evidence existed to prove this, but there was nothing denying it either. And as often as Remus wished Harry was still alive, still out there somewhere, he knew in his heart this was not possible.

He jumped when somebody rubbed his back and sat across from him, then smiled at Allyson's concerned face. "You all right?" she asked.

He nodded. "Of course," he said hoarsely. "Why do you ask?"

She raised an eyebrow in response. "You look like hell," she said a few moments later. "Full moon that difficult this month?"

"No more than usual," he responded with a sigh. "But I will be the first one to admit that I mistook Peter for shoe brush. He's all right," he added quickly when Allyson's mouth dropped open in horror. "A few scratches and a bit of a headache yesterday morning, but nothing permanent. I've told him a hundred times not to hide in the shadows just after my transformation—he makes little noises and at first I can't tell any difference between him and anything else in that basement."

Allyson gave him a sympathetic smile. He'd told her several times how hard it had been not only on Remus, but on Peter now that he had to fulfill the roles that Sirius and James had once had. The wolf still hadn't understood why his friends had disappeared so suddenly. Her attempt to change the subject didn't help much either. "I know you said you don't really want to hear about this so soon after the full moon," she began tentatively, "but we think we might have a lead on where Sirius is."

He carefully kept his eyes focused on the menu—he'd read the ingredients of that day's soup five times now. "Oh?" he replied without much enthusiasm in his voice.

"Yeah," Allyson went on. "There were reports that he was sighted near Elephant and Castle a few weeks ago; nobody really knows what he was doing, but—"

Remus finally looked at his friend. "Do you really think Sirius would be wandering around as himself?" he asked dully. "You know him better than that, Ally. I would be very surprised if he hasn't blended in to the Muggle world by now. He could be in Antarctica for all we know."

Allyson shook her head. "He hates the cold," she muttered mechanically. He rolled his eyes at her. "Besides, Sirius couldn't function without magic; he doesn't even know how to shave his face without his wand."

"Okay, so he's pretending to be a Muggle, but behind closed doors, he uses magic," Remus replied. "Either way, there is no way he was in Elephant and Castle; once again, people are only trying to get the reward that keeps rising with every year that goes by. None of those bloody tips have led anywhere; I don't know why you get so excited about them."

Regardless of what Remus thought he knew about Harry, his belief that Sirius was still out there somewhere was quite strong, and he knew very well why she got so excited about fake tips: her desire to catch Sirius herself and make him pay was equal only to Remus'.

"There you two are!" said a voice behind Remus. He turned to find Peter standing there, a small smile in place as he took his seat. "Sorry I'm late. I've never seen my inbox so full."

Allyson raised an amused eyebrow. "I wasn't aware there had been a sudden breakout of improper use of magic," she teased.

"Yes, well, there has been," Peter said, yawning. "I've had to send out five notices to the same household this week—some kid keeps getting a hold of his mother's wand and turning his siblings into slugs and things. If it goes on any longer, we'll have no choice but to fine the parents."

Remus chuckled. "Now that we're all here, let's order; I'm starving."

* * *

It was a very well-known fact that the goblins of Gringotts Bank don't care who a person was so long as they had a vault key and no intentions of stealing from them. Even if the person's last name wasn't near the name on the fault, they still wouldn't bother with trying to stop the person from making a withdrawal. This fact was a very lucky break for Sirius Black, since he had no other means of support than the gold he had stashed away. Even if he wanted to use the gold Lily and James had surely left their son, that would be near impossible since the Ministry was watching the activity on that vault very closely. Sirius only knew this because he'd overheard a conversation a few months after Lily and James had been killed between two Ministry officials with rather big mouths at the Leaky Cauldron. And it amused him to no end that he'd been sitting so close to the and they hadn't realized who he was. That had also how he'd found out that the Ministry believed Harry dead at his hands. There was nothing he wanted more than to tell the world the truth. But his worst fear was that nobody would listen to him and there would be a dementor waiting around a corner somewhere to give him the dreaded Kiss.

_Why are you thinking about this now?_ he asked himself as a goblin led him and Harry to the bank carts. _It's a beautiful day, it's Harry's birthday, and you both get the chance for semi-normalcy for a change._

"Alright, pup, in you get," Sirius said, picking Harry up and putting him into the cart before getting in beside him. "Now before we even get moving, we're not going through what we did last time—do not try to hang out of the cart, looking for the dragon. I don't want you falling out. Got it?"

Harry nodded disappointedly. "Yes, Daddy," he said obediently.

Sirius smiled and ruffled the boy's hair as best he could—there wasn't much hair there anymore. "Whenever you're ready," he said to the goblin.

The goblin grunted and hit the side of the cart with its fist—it began to move quickly, picking up speed at an almost alarming rate. Sirius found himself getting dizzy after the first few turns. _Must be getting old_, he thought idly. _I used to be able to ride these things all day long. At least Harry's enjoying himself. _The child had a look of pure bliss on his face—it was a look his godfather had seen on James when he flew on a broomstick.

The ride was over quickly—their cart skidded to a sudden halt just in front of vault number 711. This was Sirius' own vault, separate from the Black family vault. He'd gotten it just after his sixth year at Hogwarts when his uncle Alphard died and left him a good amount of gold. Luckily for him, he'd always been good with his money—he hadn't wasted all his income from his job as an Auror before he'd had to go into hiding. Gringotts had a decent interest rate and every year, Sirius' gold level rose significantly. But the little gold he had wouldn't last past Harry's first or second year at Hogwarts—Sirius would have to start thinking about how to make a living when his gold started to run out.

_Well, if Mother dies soon, all her gold will go to be, since her death will make me the last Black_, he thought lightly. _That'll be more than enough to last until Harry's of age. And hopefully by then, I'll have figured out how to get us out of this bloody mess._

"Dad," Harry said loudly, tugging on Sirius' shirt sleeve. The wizard looked down questioningly. "He needs your key…"

"Oh," Sirius said, digging into his jeans pocket. "Sorry about that, I was lost in my thoughts."

The goblin grunted in response again and took the tiny gold key Sirius held out to him. He opened the vault door and stood aside for the wizard to enter. "Wait here, Gabe," Sirius said to Harry, taking out his leather money bag which still held a few galleons from their last trip to Gringotts. He scooped up two more handfuls of gold coins along with a few sickles and knuts before leaving the vault. "We're ready to go back," he said to the goblin.

The vault closed and the three of them piled back to the cart, riding just as quickly as they had on the way here back to the main area of the bank.

"Where are we going first?" Harry asked, taking his godfather's hand as they walked down the stone steps and joined the crowd of shoppers.

Sirius shrugged and looked around. "Anywhere you want, pup," he said. "It's your birthday after all."

Harry beamed and tugged hard on Sirius' hand, pulling him to one of his favorite places in Diagon Alley, Gambol and Jape's Joke Shop. They spent an hour and a half exploring the different items and both of them found an armful of things they wanted to buy. From there, they went to Quality Quidditch Supplies where they ogled a Nimbus Two-Sixty-Five, the newest version of the broomstick Sirius had recently purchased for himself for forty-five minutes and listened to the shop owner tell people the new broomsticks were favorites for the Quidditch World Cup. After a quick stop at Florean Fortescue's for their ice cream lunch, Sirius allowed Harry to drag him into the Magical Menagerie where he boy begged for a bunny that turned into a black top hat with a snap of the fingers.

"Gabriel, you don't even clean your room, why would you want to clean up after an animal?" Sirius asked, for once not falling for the puppy dog look. "Maybe when you're a little older I'll consider getting you a pet, but not right now."

Harry sighed dramatically. "Fine," he huffed, going off to look at the double-ended newts.

Sirius rolled his eyes fondly and went to look at a litter of newborn crup puppies in a cage by the window. He'd always liked crups, even though they weren't too fond of Muggles—a trait that made him wonder if it had been a pureblood who'd originally bred the animals. A crup might be a good pet for Harry in a few years as long as—

The wizard's thoughts stopped abruptly as he happened to glance out the shop window and spotted a familiar face. Remus Lupin was walking past the shop, his head bowed, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Sirius bit his lip to keep from calling out to him and had to fight the overwhelming urge to run after the wizard. Regardless of all the letters he'd sent his old friend over the last few years, the last one sent out only the night before, Sirius had no idea if Remus even believed he was innocent. One of these days, he'd have to find out for sure, but today certainly wasn't the time—he was glamoured and it wouldn't be the best idea to reveal his true identity in the middle of the very crowded Diagon Alley. Sighing as Remus disappeared from his sight, Sirius turned away from the window, finding his godson at a display that showed different magical birds. "Time to go home, pup," he told the boy quietly.

"Aw, do we_ have_ to go home?" Harry asked. "Can't we stay a little longer? _Please?"_

Sirius shook his head and reached down to pick up his boy. "Not today, kiddo. We'll come back another time, all right?"

Though it was clear by Harry's expression that he thought it was far from alright, he nodded and allowed Sirius to carry him out of the shop. Sirius looked over his shoulder as they went back to the Leaky Cauldron where they would Floo home, hoping to catch another glimpse of Remus—the other wizard had looked thoroughly depressed and hoped it had only been that way at that very moment. He couldn't stand the thought of his best friend being miserable and wondered if the letter he'd sent might cheer Remus up—maybe he just hadn't gotten it yet…

"Hold on tight, pup," Sirius said as he stepped into the fireplace with Harry. He reached out and took a handful of Floo powder from the stand beside the fireplace and tossed it at his feet, saying his and Harry's address very clearly and they disappeared again in a whirl of green flames.

* * *

**A/N: **If you've read, please review!


	4. Found

A few weeks into September, Allyson Wylde rushed through the Ministry of Magic with only one thing on her mind. In the pocket of her Ministry robes, was a photo and a letter given to her by Kingsley Shacklebolt that morning, and though she'd wanted to leave the Ministry the moment she'd realized what she was holding, she knew it would only draw unwanted attention to her. She silently and unapologetically pushed past fellow workers and forced herself into the nearly full lift before the grilles closed. Unperturbed by the annoyed mutters of the witches and wizards whose toes she'd trodden on during her unceremonious entrance, Allyson mentally cursed the lifts for being so bloody slow. She'd never noticed before how slowly they moved, and she had a brief thought that the lifts were doing this on purpose—they knew she wanted to get somewhere desperately and were enjoying themselves by watching her squirm. If she had stopped to think for a moment, she would have realized how ridiculous this theory actually was, but nobody had ever accused this particular witch of thinking things through when she was feeling this impatient.

The lifts finally reached the Atrium level and she once again burst through the grilles before they had fully opened. The queue for the fireplaces were dreadfully long, but she knew better than to attempt Apparition in her current state; last time she'd tried, she'd left an arm behind and had spent nearly a week in hospital recovering from the blood loss. Finally reaching the front of the queue, she entered the first available fireplace, grabbed a pinch of Floo powder from the metal stand beside it, threw it at her feet, and clearly spoke the address she wanted to visit. Within moments, she was stepping out of Remus Lupin's fireplace.

"Remus!" she called, not bothering to hide the slightly hysterical edge in her voice. "Lupin, where are you?"

She walked through the small house twice before realizing her friend wasn't here, but still went through once more just to make certain. Just as she was considering the best way to get him back for not being home when she needed to speak with him, the backdoor in the kitchen opened and Remus Lupin entered. "Where the hell have you been?" she yelled.

He looked at her in shock and pointed over his shoulder to the backyard before opening his mouth to speak. "I was—"

"Never mind," she said, approaching him. "Sit down." Before he could even take a step towards the kitchen chair, she was directing him there and shoving him down into said chair by the shoulders.

"Ally, what the hell is going on with you?" he asked, now visually concerned as she began pacing around his kitchen.

She finally stopped in front of the fridge, fairly certain she was calm enough to speak without yelling. "Kingsley received a package in his inbox this morning," she said in the most even tone she could manage. "Before he even brought it to my attention, he checked its authenticity; he knew it wouldn't be the smartest move to just throw it at me and say have fun." Remus' eyebrows were rising pretty quickly as her voice picked up speed. With a sigh, she reached into her cloak and grabbed the letter and photograph that had been weighing against her chest like an anvil all day long. With a sudden shaking hand that she mentally cursed, she passed the two items to her best friend.

He watched her with a high amount of concern as he rather hesitantly took what she handed him. Once the pass had been made, Allyson rather quickly spun away from him and went to sit on the kitchen counter, where she expertly reached above her head and grabbed a bottle of firewhiskey from the cabinet. Remus watched as she took several deep gulps from the bottle before he turned his attention to the items in his hand.

The letter had been sent by a witch who lived in a small town on the edge of the Forest of Dean. As she drank, Allyson went through the letter in her mind—during the day, she had memorized it quite quickly.

_To whom it may concern:_

_My name is Alma Banks and I live on the outskirts of Gloucester with my family. Before my youngest son Evan left for Hogwarts this term, he and his friends spent several days of their summer holiday near the Forest of Dean playing Quidditch. The few wizarding families in the area share a small spot that is charmed with Muggle repellents, soundproofing spells, and others to ensure that they are not seen by the Muggles of neighboring towns. As they approached their field on one particular day, the boys found a man and a young boy already flying above the trees, and rushed back to my home to tell me what they had seen. Naturally, I told them they must have been wrong, but they were adamant that none other than Sirius Black and Harry Potter were flying on broomsticks in their Quidditch area. None of the other families believed this claim, either, and it wasn't until I put my son on the Hogwarts Express and went for a look myself that my mind changed so drastically. I was able to catch a photograph, which I have enclosed to prove my claim, and want nothing more than for the Ministry of Magic to take immediate action. Certainly, I am aware of the reward available for information leading to the capture of Sirius Black and once this mess is over, I will happily accept the reward. In the meantime, I look forward to having these people out of my village; I will not feel safe leaving my home until it is done._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Alma Banks_

Remus looked at Allyson with a skeptical eyebrow. "You can't honestly believe—"

"Look at the photo," Allyson said dully, taking another mouthful of firewhiskey.

With a heavy sigh, Remus set aside the letter and examined the included photograph. "It's just a bunch of trees…" he said after a moment.

"Wait for it."

"Wait for—" he began questioning. He stopped very suddenly and Allyson knew exactly why. While he had been staring at the trees, two figures flying on broomsticks entered the frame and paused. The older of the two sat back on his broomstick while the smaller figure flew around him for a few moments. Just as Allyson had, Remus was reaching for his wand to zoom in on the photo in order to examine the figures much more closely. Though she wasn't looking at him—she preferred the birds in the backyard right now—she was able to pinpoint the moment he recognized who he was seeing. He let out a sudden, strangled yell as he threw the photo to the floor as though it had bitten him, and jumped backwards several feet. "That's…"

She nodded, set aside the firewhiskey, and hopped off the counter, making her way to the photo and picking it up. She retrieved her own wand from her cloak, waited for the two figures to appear again, and muttered, "_Impedimenta,"_ before zooming in on the photo again. She could now very clearly see Sirius Black and Harry Potter frozen in place, both looking quite happy and carefree. She examined Sirius' prideful face as he watched Harry before handing the photo back to Remus. "Kingsley went and spoke with this Banks woman," she said quietly. "He reckons she's completely sane and telling the truth and she didn't doctor the photo to make it look like it was Sirius just so she could get the reward."

Remus grasped blindly for his chair as he looked at the picture again. "That's Harry," he mumbled very quietly.

She stood behind him, resting her hands on his shoulders. "We were right," she began in the same quiet tone. "He looks exactly like James—"

"But with Lily's eyes," he breathed. It was several minutes before he tore his eyes from the picture to look at her. "What do we do now?"

She swallowed, looking steadily at the photo as she spoke. "Well, as I see it, we have two options," she began slowly. "We can either go in with a team of Aurors and Dumbledore, surprise Black while he sleeps or something and take him in… Or you and I can go alone and do what we've dreamed about for four years…"

Remus nodded. "I think I'd prefer the second option myself," he said with a steely edge to his voice.

* * *

Sirius landed his broomstick easily on the ground and looked around, waiting for Harry. Though his flying had definitely improved—most kids weren't even close to being as good as Harry—the kid was still having issues with landing. Most of his attempts had resulted in skidding across the ground into mud piles—which Sirius had thought had been deliberate the first couple times—crashing into bushes, or just complete loss of control of the broomstick and it bucking him off in some random spot.

There was a small crash just to the wizard's left and, trying to control his amusement, went to go see whether it had been his godson. Harry was lying on top of a bush, his legs, arms, and broomstick seemingly weaved into the branches. "Honestly, pup," Sirius said, beginning to help Harry out, "you're never going to be a Quidditch star if you can't do something so simple as landing your broomstick."

Harry made a rather annoyed face at his godfather. "That stupid thing hates me," he grumbled as he was set on the ground again. "I keep telling it I want to land safely, like you said I should, but it just laughs at me."

With a snort, Sirius grabbed the two broomsticks in one hand and Harry's hand in the other. "Harry, if broomsticks could laugh, you and I would be rich." He ruffled his godson's hair. "What do you want for dinner tonight? I thought we might head into town and get a couple hamburgers or something."

While they walked back to the cabin, they discussed that day's flying, and Sirius was careful to leave out his godson's less than coordinated landing. As they broke through the last of the trees, the wizard stopped very suddenly, throwing out his free hand to catch Harry before he took another step. Something wasn't right, but he couldn't quite pinpoint exactly that something was.

"Sirius?" Harry questioned, looking up at the wizard.

"Shh," Sirius responded, looking over branches and leaves to the window of their cabin.

He wondered if he was just being paranoid, if his mind was imagining the terrible feeling in his stomach. But one minute of watching proved the feeling correct: two people were walking slowly past the kitchen window, looking around. And he would know those two people anywhere.

Sirius cursed, his breath and heart rate quickening as he watched Allyson pause to look at something. Abandoning the broomsticks for now, Sirius grabbed Harry by the hand, ignored the child's questions as to where they were going, and ducked back through the trees. They hurried on for several minutes—over the years, Sirius had come to know this part of the forest quite well; when you had a curious child living with you, you spent several hours a week exploring.

There was only one thing going through Sirius' mind right now and he couldn't quite manage to push it aside long enough to figure out what to do next. They had been found. Allyson and Remus were in the cabin, searching for them right now. But _how_ had they been found? Hadn't Sirius been careful enough? Hadn't he done everything possible to make absolutely certain that nobody could recognize them? Sirius looked over his body and realized his mistake: while they used glamour charms everywhere else they went, he never bothered when they were flying. From what he'd been able to tell, there weren't any magical people in the area, and even Muggle visitors were few and far between; there hadn't been any point. Besides, Sirius had wanted to see his own godson's face while he flew, to see in those emerald green eyes how much fun he was having. He hadn't wanted to look at some strange boy…

Again, Sirius cursed.

"Where are we going?" Harry demanded, having just tripped over at tree root. "I thought we were going home, I'm hungry."

"I know, pup," Sirius said distractedly as he looked around their surroundings. "So am I, but we've got to stay out here for now."

"Why?" the boy asked as he hopped a log in their path.

Sirius sighed. Did he tell his godson what was happening, make him more afraid than he probably already was, or did he do what any normal parent would do: lie through his teeth to make the situation seem less threatening? Sirius decided on the former. "Harry," he said, sitting on a rock and pulling Harry onto his lap. "Do you remember all those things I've told you about why we have to hide?" Harry nodded slowly, his little brow furrowed in confusion. "You remember how I said that there are people who think I've done something very bad and until we find a way to make them believe the truth, we have to stay hidden?"

"Yeah," Harry said slowly.

Sirius took a deep breath. "Well, some of those people have found us."

The boy's eyes widened in horror. "Are they going to take me away from you?" he asked meekly, holding onto his godfather as tightly as he could manage.

"No," Sirius said, his voice strong and resolute. "No, Harry, nobody will ever take you away from me. I promise."

* * *

It had taken Allyson and Remus only a little over an hour to locate the most likely place for Sirius to be hiding Harry. They'd wandered away from Gloucester down a simple dirt path and had almost literally stumbled out of the trees in front of a tiny log cabin. They had exchanged a single glance, both of them knowing deep down this was the place, and walked up to the door. Below the window beside the front door was a stack of wood, probably used for fires—the chimney was sending up smoke, but it seemed to disappear the moment it touched the treetops.

"Should we knock?" Remus asked uneasily, looking through the window.

Allyson snorted. "I don't think anyone's here," she said quietly. "Sirius would have set something up to alert him of visitors…" Whispering the unlocking charm and tapping her wand on the doorknob, the Auror pushed open the front door and entered. For a few moments, she merely stared around. She didn't know what she had expected to see—the windows blacked out, Dark Arts objects and potions on all the tables, a large cauldron full of some simmering potion—but this was not it. Everywhere her eyes looked, she saw a simple home, perfectly suited for a five-year-old and a bachelor. There were a few toys here and there, a comfortable sofa placed in front of the blazing fireplace, a television in the corner of the room. On the fireplace mantle was a row of photos, each with the same face smiling from it. As though she was being pulled by some unknown force, Allyson proceeded to examine them. It was Harry throughout the past four years, she finally deduced, and in every photo he had the same look that said he couldn't be happier in any place than the one he was in right now.

"What's that on his head?" Remus asked from where he stood beside the witch. Allyson stepped forward to look at what seemed to be the most recent photo of the child. On his forehead, between his eyebrows was a scar shaped like a lightning bolt. At first she wondered if perhaps this was just something Harry had drawn on himself for some reason, maybe he'd seen it on a cartoon or something, but the scar was present in every picture, even one that showed the child as Allyson and Remus remembered him: a small, fifteen-month-old baby.

Deciding to figure that particular mystery out a bit later, Allyson walked away from the fireplace and headed through the rest of the house. There were only four other rooms—two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. The place was empty right now, but the two friends knew it hadn't been that way long—there was a package of steaks thawing in the sink; a coloring book lay open on the kitchen, the picture half finished and crayons dumped out on the placemat around it. As she investigated the kitchen, she looked out the window suddenly, thinking she'd seen something out of the corner of her eye, but when she didn't see anything that could have caused the vision, her mind supplied that it was an animal of some sort.

"They're not here," Remus said unnecessarily as he entered the kitchen. Allyson refrained from making any comments along the lines of '_thank you, Captain Obvious_,' and settled for a nod. "It doesn't really seem like Harry's being mistreated, does it?"

Allyson found a drawing on the refrigerator, something a proud, loving parent would display for their child, of a badly drawn man with black hair and a crooked grin on his face standing with his arm around a small boy with a yellow lightning-bolt shaped scar on his head. Behind them was what she assumed to be the cabin she stood in right now, grey smoke coming out of the chimney. If that drawing was any indication, Harry was a normal, happy child and the man beside him loved him very much.

But Allyson knew this wasn't right. Sirius Black was the epitome of evil. He had betrayed his best friends by giving their location to Lord Voldemort, all the while deceiving the people around him that he supposedly loved. Did Harry know that the man he lived with had been the reason his parents were murdered before he was old enough to talk?

Feeling slightly ill, Allyson looked at Remus—the wizard seemed to be having the same trouble she was looking around this seemingly happy, comfortable home—and silently gestured that it was time for them to leave. She wasn't sure what they were about to do, only that they couldn't do it on their own. Something was changing in Allyson's mind and she didn't think she liked it much; it felt like her mind was forcing itself to rethink everything she'd ever believed.

Outside, the witch looked at the wizard and with one word, they Disapparated. "Dumbledore," she told him before disappearing.

* * *

"Sirius, I'm cold!" Harry complained as he sat on a log in front of a fire.

Sirius sighed heavily, knowing that very soon the sun would be gone and the cold would only get worse. He'd been sitting here with his godson for hours, afraid that if they tried to return to the home they'd lived in for four years, everything would fall down around them. "I know, pup," the wizard said, conjuring a third blanket wrap around his godson's shivering frame.

"When can we go home?" the boy asked a few minutes later while Sirius was walking around the small clearing they'd come across, searching for eatable berries for them to eat.

"I don't think we can," the wizard replied sadly.

"So where are we going to sleep?"

It was a very simple question that should have had a very simple answer, but like many of the questions Harry was beginning to ask, his godfather searched the area around him, hoping the answer would be etched into a tree trunk or something. He opened his mouth to tell Harry that he wasn't sure, but he didn't have any reason to worry—Sirius would figure something out. But his mouth snapped shut instantly as the answer popped into his mind. Of course there was somewhere they could go, there had been somewhere all along, but Sirius had been too nervous to attempt it—what if they reported him? They'd always been fairly tough in their own right—small or not—and he knew that if they wanted to, they could overpower him.

Knowing they had no other choice—Sirius couldn't let his godson sleep on the cold ground without food or water—he turned to Harry. "Come here, pup," he said quietly, kneeling. Harry shook himself out of his blankets and dutifully obeyed. Sirius scooped the boy up in his arms and looked him directly in the eyes. "I want you to listen close." Harry nodded and bit his lip, something he did when he concentrated. "We're going to Apparate. I need you to hold onto me very tightly, and when I say, take a deep breath, hold it, and don't let it out until I tell you to. All right?" Again, Harry nodded, wrapping his arms tightly around his godfather's neck and burying his head in the crook of his shoulder like he did when they used the Floo. "On three then, pup," Sirius said quietly, taking his own deep breaths. "One…" He slowly let the breath out. "Two…" He really hoped he didn't mess this up with the result of leaving half of Harry's leg behind. "Three…" He thought of where they would be going and promised himself it would be perfectly safe. "Now, pup."

Sirius Black spun on the spot and within a moment, he and his godson had disappeared from the small clearing.


	5. Potter Manor

It was dark when Sirius and Harry appeared at the end of the dirt road that led to a tall metal fence. Cautiously, Sirius adjusted the weight of his godson on his hip, looked around a moment to make sure they were still alone and walked forward. He knew how to get through the gate, he just hoped the gate recognized Harry.

"Pup," he said quietly as they stared at the metal in front of them. "I want you to touch right here, where the gate locks." He pointed to the indicated spot, but knew better than to touch it.

Harry gave him a wary look that told him he wasn't certain that was the best idea.

"I promise it won't hurt you," Sirius said, trying to keep the impatience out of his voice – he wanted away from the main roads of the town.

With a sigh, Harry reached out and touched his palm to the lock. For a moment, Sirius thought it hadn't worked, that the grounds had sealed itself after James' death, but the area around Harry's palm glowed a very brief gold before they both heard a click and the gates opened of their own accord. Sirius grinned in relief. The place recognized Harry as its owner. At least that barrier had been knocked over.

The wizard let Harry drop to the ground and he settled for holding the child's hand as they proceeded onto the grounds. The moment they had passed through the gates, they closed again, and the grounds seemed to come alive. Directly in front of them had appeared a lit path up to the front door, lined by shrubs and bushes. At the end of the path lay a large house that looked much more modest than it actually was. It was a very light blue color on the outside, large windows seeming to smile in welcome to its visitors as they approached the large front porch. The walk took much less time that it should have, judging by the long path, and Sirius and Harry slowly took the front steps up to the door and stared at the lion-shaped doorknocker.

Sirius looked down at Harry. "Go ahead," he urged quietly. "Open it…"

Harry swallowed and Sirius realized his stress with the situation had rubbed off a little on his godson. Unfortunately, at this point, there was nothing he could do about it. With a shaking hand that wasn't gripping his godfather's tightly, Harry reached out and turned the golden doorknob and pushed open the door. The inside of Potter Manor was dimly lit, and Sirius wasn't sure how far they'd get before someone realized they were there. The answer, they discovered, was that the Potter family house-elves had been watching them the entire time, but only revealed themselves when Sirius had closed the door with a quiet snap.

"Who is being in the house of Potter?" asked a high-pitched, stern voice that Sirius recognized immediately. He grinned in relief that she was still here. "How is you being here?"

"Dotty, is that you?" Sirius called through the dim light. He could see about a dozen little shadows on the second level, peeking at him and Harry through the stair railing.

Several of the shadows gasped in unison as they recognized his voice. "Mi-Mister Sirius?" the voice replied hesitantly. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me," Sirius said calmly. "I've got someone with me that you might want to see."

"You is not allowed in here, Mister Sirius," the head house-elf said very sternly. "This house is of good wizards."

"But I am a good wizard, Dotty," Sirius replied. "Please come downstairs, and I'll explain everything."

Very slowly, as the small house-elf started down the stairs, the lights began to brighten until Sirius could see the details of all the other elves that had remained upstairs as they warily watched what was happening. Dotty the house-elf was the smallest of the lot with a very small amount of black hair on her head and blue eyes. She had a short, pointed nose and a look of authority that one didn't normally see in a house-elf; Sirius knew her to be one of the very few people who could order James Potter around with merely a look – the other had been his wife. She observed the two visitors warily, Sirius first, and she only glanced very briefly at Harry. "How are you, Dotty?" Sirius asked kindly, smiling at her.

She was now at the bottom of the stairs, the bright white tablecloth toga she wore being wrung in her hands. "I is well, Mister Sirius," she said slowly. "What is you wanting?"

There was a sudden movement behind Sirius as Harry moved to look at Dotty around his legs. Again, the house-elves gasped.

"Master Harry?" one of them asked rather bravely. Dotty shot a stern look up the stairs and the house-elf who had spoken seemed to back away a few steps.

Dotty observed Harry much more closely now, seeming to forget that Sirius was in the house at all. The wizard could see large tears forming in the elf's blue eyes. "He is looking much like Master James," she whispered. "But with Mistress Lily's eyes…" She suddenly looked sternly back at Sirius. "We is hearing what is happened to Master James and Mistress Lily." Her tone was so severe that Sirius nearly backed away from her just as the house-elf had done. "And that Master Harry is being gone too."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Well, you can see that Harry is right here, perfectly healthy and safe, so at least that part isn't true." Dotty looked at Harry and her eyes softened again. "As for Lily and James… I wish I could say they were alive and well, but they're not. But it was not I who betrayed them, Dotty. It was Peter Pettigrew and he's convinced everyone that he's innocent. I took Harry from his parents' house after they were killed and haven't looked back since."

The house-elf looked between Sirius and Harry for several moments, debating with herself on whether to believe what Sirius was saying. She seemed to take Harry's happy, content, only slightly fearful face as enough proof that Sirius wasn't the evil traitor the rest of the world believed him to be. She eventually nodded slowly. "We always known that Mister Sirius can't have done that to Master James," she whispered. "They's was too good of friends for that."

Sirius smiled in relief. "Good to hear someone say that," he said sincerely. "Listen, Dotty, Harry and I didn't have anywhere else to go; some of my old friends found our cabin and we had to leave to avoid being seen. This was the only place I could think of that is safe enough." He hesitated.

Dotty noticed. "What is Mister Sirius wanting to ask of Dotty?" she asked in that stern voice.

"Has there been anybody at the house, maybe asking you and the other house-elves questions about me, or placing special charms to alert them to our attempt to visit?" Sirius asked.

The house-elf nodded. "There has been people asking questions," she said slowly. "But that has not been happening for a few years. Albus Dumbledore was visiting once, telling us what is happened, and said if we is to be seeing you, Mister Sirius, we should think about contacting him."

Sirius had a moment of panic. "And are you thinking about contacting him?" he asked quietly, starting to wonder if this had been a mistake.

Dotty shook her head fervently. "No, I is not," she said firmly. "Mister Sirius is taking care of Master Harry, though, and without Mister Sirius, Master Harry could be anywhere. I is trusting Mister Sirius until he shows me different. The other elves will follow suit with what Dotty will tell them, Mister Sirius." She looked over her shoulder at her fellow house-elves as they nodded at Sirius, promising the same.

"Okay," Sirius said, not relaxing just yet. He glanced at Harry's face – the boy was getting more and more excited as he watched the wizard and house-elf talk. "And nothing will alert the Aurors or Dumbledore?"

"No," Dotty said, a look of extreme protection and menace Sirius knew not to cross in her eyes. "We is making sure of this, Mister Sirius. House-elves has their own magic, you know, and we can protects our masters just as wizards does."

Sirius nodded, a smile crossing his face. "Thank you, Dotty," he said. He looked at the house-elves at the top of the stairs and added, "Thanks to you lot too."

"Come, Mister Sirius," Dotty said, taking the wizard's hand in one of hers and Harry's in the other. "We is making dinner, I can hear Master Harry's stomach grumbling, and you is both going to bed."

Harry looked at Sirius, startled. Never had anybody ordered him to bed before eight o'clock in the evening, not even Sirius. The wizard controlled his twitching lips and shook his head at Harry, promising to explain while they ate.

* * *

At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, students were leaving the Great Hall after dinner, returning to their common rooms, only glancing briefly at the man and woman who hurried through the corridors. Remus was leading the way to Albus Dumbledore's study, trying not to bowl over the students they were passing and knowing Allyson wasn't bothering with such things in her own urgency.

On the way through the grounds, neither Remus nor Allyson had spoken about what they were going to say to the Headmaster or what they had seen in the cabin outside the Forest of Dean. The werewolf's mind was reeling; just a few hours before, he'd been out in his garden picking vegetables for his dinner, and now he was hurrying through the halls of his old school with old wounds being ripped open again.

"Remus?" asked a stern voice as the two of them turned a corner.

Out of the corner of his eye, Remus saw his friend cringe instinctively. Anytime Allyson had been caught by that voice during her time at Hogwarts, it usually meant several days of inventive detentions. "Hello, Professor," Remus said, turning around to look at Minerva McGonagall.

The witch allowed herself a smile at the wizard, but it seemed to freeze in place when she spotted Allyson. "Miss Wylde," she said wearily. "To what do we owe this pleasure?" Something in Remus' tone told him McGonagall would have considered never seeing Allyson again in these halls the real pleasure.

"Er, we're here to see the Headmaster," Remus said quietly, carefully placing himself between the two witches so that he would be heard. "It's quite important. Is he here?"

McGonagall observed him over her glasses for a moment before nodding slowly. "He is in his study," she responded crisply. "The password is sherbet lemon. I trust everything is all right?"

"Not exactly," Allyson said in a rather tight tone. McGonagall actually looked at her in concern. "We have some information that he is going to want to see immediately."

"Very well, then," the Deputy Headmistress said slowly, an odd look in her eyes. "Don't let me keep you."

Remus smiled as Allyson grabbed his arm and dragged him down the corridor. "Thank you, Professor," he called as he was forced to turn a corner.

"That woman treats me like a bloody criminal," Allyson said quietly as they continued to Dumbledore's study.

The wizard raised an eyebrow at her. "Allyson, every time she saw you rushing through the school corridors away from the rest of the school, she knew something had happened and she was waiting to offer you lighter detentions for just telling her what you'd done," he said flatly. "It's got to be a bit of déjà vu for her; when was the last time you were here?"

"Hmm…" Allyson murmured without replying. Remus saw her lips twitching, fighting against an evil grin.

They arrived at the gargoyle that hid the Headmaster's study. Remus muttered the password and the revolving staircase was revealed. The two friends stepped on and let it take them to the top where they knocked twice with the golden doorknocker. "Come in," came the slightly surprised voice of Albus Dumbledore.

Remus pushed open the door, took one look at the office and mentally groaned quite loudly. Sitting in front of Dumbledore's desk was Severus Snape. While Dumbledore's face held a welcoming smile, Snape's was one of pure loathing that somehow intensified when Allyson entered the office. Remus was certain that if he were to look at his friend right now, her face would match Snape's almost exactly.

"Remus, Allyson," Dumbledore said, standing. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Unlike when McGonagall had asked the same thing, from Dumbledore it sounded much more genuine. "We hoped we could speak to you in private, Headmaster," Remus said, glancing from the older wizard to Snape.

"Certainly," Dumbledore said, still smiling. "Severus, we can continue this discussion later."

Snape stood, gave a respectful nod to Dumbledore and started out of the office. He paused only long enough to curl his lip in disgust at Allyson before closing the door behind him.

"Please, sit," Dumbledore said, busying himself with making tea for his guests. "How may I be of assistance?"

Remus hesitated, glancing at Allyson to make certain the look of loathing seeing Snape had caused had faded a touch. "Well, sir, I don't quite know how to say it," he began.

"That's quite simple, Remus," Dumbledore said, turning to him. His eyes were twinkling merrily. "Start at the beginning and speak until you've finished."

Allyson snorted. "Easier said than done, sir," she said, trying to control her amusement.

The Headmaster chuckled as he passed his former students a cup of tea. "Lemon drop?" he asked, offering them a crystal bowl. Each of them took the offered candy and sipped at their tea. "There are several things that are easier said than done, Allyson, but they are nevertheless done."

With a nod, Allyson reached into her robes and pulled out the letter and photo she'd brought to Remus a few hours ago, and silently passed them to Dumbledore. The two friends watched their old Headmaster very closely, looking for any sign of surprise, even though they knew their attempt was futile; they'd known Dumbledore most of their lives and never had he visually presented any shock at a situation he may have been feeling.

"What is this?" Dumbledore asked slowly, setting aside the letter to examine the photo. To Remus' and Allyson's great surprise, Dumbledore's eyes widened a touch when he saw Sirius and Harry fly into the frame. "Where did you get this?"

Sighing, Allyson dove into the story she'd told Remus, about Kingsley Shacklebolt giving her the package, then continued to speak about hers and Remus' decision to visit this place, to see if the story was true. She told him every detail she could remember about the small log cabin where they believed Sirius Black to have hidden Harry Potter for four years. By the time she'd run out of words and breath – Remus wondered if she'd taken a single breath the entire time she spoke – Dumbledore's eyes were deep and thoughtful. "Sir?" Allyson said a few moments after she'd stopped speaking, when he hadn't said a word.

Dumbledore seemed to break out of his thoughts. "My apologies," he said quietly. "From what you are telling me, without having seen this cabin myself, I do not believe it at all necessary to return there to keep a lookout." Allyson's mouth dropped open and Remus could feel several arguments fighting their way out of her throat. "Black will not return. Though he may be many things, Sirius Black is not ignorant; he will know someone has found him. Whether he knows whom this may have been, we cannot tell. But I can assure you he will have moved on."

"And what about Harry?" Remus asked.

Now Dumbledore looked older than he had in years. "I will say this: It is a large weight off my shoulders, as well as yours, I am certain, to see signs that he lives. At the same time, however, it is troubling. We do not know Black's mental stability, nor what he has taught the boy while he has had him under his care. I can only hope, from what I am seeing in this photograph and from what the two of you have told me, that Harry remains happy and healthy until we can locate him."

* * *

It was near midnight when Remus and Allyson returned to the wizard's home and they were surprised to find Peter at the kitchen table waiting for them.

"I've been looking everywhere for you two!" Peter said, obviously relieved when they entered the backdoor. "Where were you?"

Allyson looked at Remus in exhaustion. "You tell him," she muttered before heading into the living room and falling onto the couch. By the time Remus and Peter joined her, she was fast asleep.

Peter looked questioningly at the witch before looking again at Remus. The two of them sat in chairs beside each other and Remus once again went through what had happened that day. Throughout the explanation, he noticed his friend growing more pale with every word he spoke. Remus knew that Peter had a deep-seated fear of Sirius Black and always had. During their time in school, Remus had wondered why Peter spent so much time with Sirius if he was so afraid of him, but he'd grown to understand that Peter preferred to have Sirius on his good side, rather than an enemy.

"Do you think Dumbledore will find him?" Peter asked in a rather strangled whisper.

Remus could only shrug. "We found him this time, didn't we?" he asked. "Now that we know he's still active and letting his guard down enough for people to snap pictures of him, it's only a matter of time, isn't it?" He patted Peter on the back. "If it's any consolation, if he wanted to attack Allyson and myself, he probably had a decent shot at it – he can't have been gone long – so I don't think he's out to get us."

Peter didn't seem the least bit comforted by this. When he left a few minutes later, Remus couldn't help but be bothered by the state his friend was in. Though he tried as he covered Allyson with a blanket and placed a pillow under her head, he couldn't remember any time before that Peter had seen so shaken and nervous as he had when Remus was telling him about finding Sirius' location of the last four years. As he climbed into his own bed, Remus made a mental note to visit his friend the next day and try to find out the reason.


	6. House Elves and Secrets

Nearly a week following the discovery of where Harry and Sirius had been hiding out for the past four years, nobody was any closer to figuring where they'd gone now. Remus, Allyson, and Peter had spent countless late nights trying to think of places Sirius might use as a hideout, including his old London flat that he'd had since he was sixteen as well as his childhood home on Grimmauld Place.

"He wouldn't even consider that place, though," Allyson insisted as she sipped on her cup of tea. "He hated everything about it."

"Which is why it would be the perfect hiding place for him right now," Remus argued, subduing a yawn. "Anybody who knows him knows he hates his family, so why would anybody think he'd put himself through the torture of returning there?"

Allyson sighed. "Fine, but you can talk to Mrs. Black," she said dully. "The woman hates me."

With a snort, Remus nodded and started to speak, but Peter cut him off. "I don't think anybody is going to need to talk to Mrs. Black," he said slowly, passing them the _Daily Prophet_. "Look at the first obituary."

Remus and Allyson put their heads together as they read the small clip about Walburga Black's sudden death in her home last evening. Healers attributed it to natural causes, rather than foul play—Remus had briefly thought he wouldn't have put it past Sirius to kill his own mother. "Well, that's more reason for him to hide there, isn't it?" he asked his friends. "Everything will be left to Sirius—he's the last of the Blacks as far as I know—and he'll think it's too obvious a spot to search."

The witch didn't seem convinced. "Think about it, Remus," she said. "Sirius ran away from that place when he was a kid, not bothering to figure out where he would go, showed up at James' in the middle of the night… And that wasn't even the first time he attempted it! In third year, he was outside my window at two in the morning, tossing pebbles at the glass to wake me up. The only reason he was allowed to stay was because my parents were out of town that week. And even then, we sat up half the night trying to figure out ways to burn is parents' house down…"

"All right, all right," Remus finally said. "I get the point. Sirius wouldn't go there." He sighed. "If only we knew what he was up to, we could work out where he might have gone."

Again, the room was thrown into silence as the three friends thought. None of them could recall another time that they'd become so obsessed with a single goal; after four years of trying to move on with their lives, after everything that had happened, it had only taken them a few moments to switch tracks once again. Remus looked over at Peter as he and Allyson studied a map of England, trying to figure out where to search next. To his immense surprise, Peter had been even more eager to find Sirius than Allyson. He wasn't sure why this was; the very mention of Sirius Black over the last few years had caused Peter to drop anything in his hands and if he'd been eating, he choked to the point that his friends needed to use a spell to dislodge the food. But it seemed Peter had put aside this fear of his former friend long enough to help search for him and Harry.

The Ministry of Magic did not yet know that they had discovered a huge lead in the search for Sirius and Harry. Allyson's dislike of the place had talked Dumbledore into leaving the Minister and the Aurors out of it for the time being—she'd argued that she, Remus, and Peter deserved the chance to find Sirius for themselves before involving them; she knew they would decide Allyson and her friends were too close to the situation and had no reason to be involved.

But, Remus had to admit, they might need to involve the Ministry at some point soon. They were quickly running out of places to search—when Sirius wanted to hide, he did so quite thoroughly. The fact that they now had a picture of him and Harry and knew where they'd been hiding for the last four years was mere luck in his opinion — he didn't dare express this aloud to Allyson, though. Without the resources of the Ministry, Remus was quite aware that the next time they found Sirius or Harry may be too late.

* * *

The first week at Potter Manor had gone very smoothly. Harry had adjusted to dealing with other beings besides his godfather much easier than Sirius thought would be possible. A few times, Sirius had gone to the basement Quidditch pitch and found his godson playing Chaser while a few of the house-elves played Keeper. The only problem with this arrangement had been the house-elves' intuition to allow their young master to make every goal he attempted with the Quaffle.

Sirius had taken out a subscription to the _Daily Prophet_ to keep an eye on whether Remus and Allyson had gone to the Ministry after discovering them. He'd scoured every page of the newspaper every day—even though he knew that if the _Prophet_ was going to report on a sighting of him, it would be front page—but so far there had been nothing. He wasn't sure if this made him feel better or not. The knowledge that his old friends had yet to report him suggested that they themselves were conducting their own searches. Sirius would almost prefer someone from the Ministry finding him; at least he would be walking out of the house rather than carried out in a matchbox. Dotty and the other elves had taken it upon themselves to help Sirius clear his name. As promised, they had taken his word about what had happened to Lily and James, and were quite determined to make certain the real traitor was punished. Sirius wasn't sure how they were going to do this, but knowing the Potters' house-elves as he did, he wasn't going to press for details just yet.

Rather early on a Sunday morning, Sirius rolled out of bed and dressed rather quickly. He was eager to get breakfast over with so he could give Harry a few Quidditch training sessions. The boy had become more and more interested in a Seeker's role in the game and Sirius had had a lot of trouble getting his godson to go to sleep the night before because he was so eager to learn some of the different tactics Sirius had been telling him about.

As he reached the kitchen, he knew something was off, but it took him a few minutes to pinpoint what it was. The moment he'd entered, a few of the house-elves bustled around to make him breakfast, while another group was huddled around something, talking excitedly.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked a small house-elf called Sam.

Sam looked a bit bashful at being addressed by the wizard—Sirius couldn't recall ever hearing the elf's voice before now. "We is having a visitor, Mister Sirius," Sam said in a quiet, high-pitched voice. "An old friend of the house-elves, sir, and we hasn't seen him in a year, sir."

Sirius nodded and looked back at the group of house-elves. The Potter house-elves had parted a bit and Sirius was able to get a good look at the visitor. He assumed it was a male, though it was a bit tough to really tell. The elf's eyes were large and green, looking rather like tennis balls over his long, thin pencil-like nose. He seemed to be wearing an old pillowcase with holes for his arms and legs. This was quite a contrast to the Potter house-elves; they all wore new, clean white sheets that were draped over their small bodies like togas. Sirius wondered how long the visiting house-elf had worn that particular pillowcase—t was dingy and graying as though it had been washed too many times without being replaced.

The wizard's study of the new elf was halted as his young godson entered the kitchen, still looking half asleep. "Morning," he yawned hugely as Sirius helped him onto one of the tall stools in front of the table.

This seemed to break the happiness of the house-elves. There was a gasp from the visitor and Sirius looked at him curiously before realizing what was going on. Even if this house-elf hadn't recognized him, he seemed to know Harry — he stared at the boy pouring milk and sugar over his cereal. Sirius wasn't sure how this could really be possible — the world only knew Harry as an infant. Well, except Allyson and Remus, both of whom had undoubtedly seen the photos on the mantle back at the cabin.

"Dobby must leave," said the visiting house-elf quite suddenly. "His masters will be expecting breakfast soon."

As the other elves bade goodbye, Dobby the house-elf gave one final look somewhere between shock and horror before disappearing with a rather loud _pop_. The moment he'd gone, the other house-elves began going on with their day's work.

"Weird one, him," Sirius muttered to Sam. "Whose elf is he?"

Sam opened his mouth to reply, but Dotty entered at that moment and told him to make the beds. The house-elf gave Sirius an apologetic smile and bustled off, not wanting to face the wrath of Dotty this early in the morning.

"Can we go fly now?" Harry asked as he drank the milk out of his cereal bowl.

Still slightly bemused, Sirius turned to the boy and nodded. "Sure, pup. Take your bowl to the sink first."

Though Sirius was trying to teach Harry to do things himself rather than with the help of house-elves, the moment Harry hopped off his stool, one of the elves rushed to the table and grabbed the cereal bowl and spoon. With a slightly amused, slightly exasperated sigh, Sirius led Harry down to the basement Quidditch pitch.

* * *

While Sirius and Harry flew in the basement of Potter Manor, Dobby the house-elf was returning to his own home, where it seemed his absence had not been overlooked. As he entered the dining room carrying a silver tray of breakfast for his masters, Lucius Malfoy stood from his chair at the end of the long dining table. Young Draco was at his father's left; though he seemed to have just woken, his eyes were wide and eager as he looked between Lucius and Dobby—he seemed to enjoy the punishments Lucius doled out to the house-elf. Narcissa sat directly across from her son, looking completely unperturbed by the situation around her.

"Where have you been?" snarled Lucius. "We have been waiting for our breakfast for nearly a quarter of an hour!"

Dobby gulped and stumbled, nearly dropping the entire tray. "Dobby is s-sorry, sir," he squeaked. "Dobby was simply running early morning errands, sir, and they was running a bit late."

Lucius' pale eyebrow rose. "Errands?" he asked coldly. Dobby nodded as he skakily placed the breakfast tray on the table. "And what errands were these, Dobby? I don't recall giving you orders or even permission to leave this house."

"No, sir," Dobby said, bowing low and wringing his bandaged hands together—they were the result of a punishment the house-elf had received for dropping Lucius' shoes a few days before. "But Master Lucius is giving Dobby permission to visit his friends once a year, sir."

"When my family and I are on holiday," the wizard replied.

Dobby gulped harder still. He could almost imagine his punishment—tending to the angry peacocks that panicked and stampeded at the very sight of the house-elf; jumping from young Master Draco's playroom window for the boy's amusement; perhaps Dobby would be made to clean the fireplace while it still burned... Again. Dobby winced at the prospect. There was one way out of trouble, his mind supplied him suddenly. He'd seen things at Potter Manor that would be of great interest to his master. And really, what loyalty did he have to those people...

_But if the rumors are true, I mustn't give up their secret,_ he told himself.

_It is your duty as a house-elf to tell your master what you have seen. You can punish yourself later for it..._

After a moment of hesitation, the house-elf spoke up, "I is seeing things, sir." He was already planning to shut his ears in the oven door when this was over.

"What things?" spat Lucius automatically.

Dobby took a few tentative steps forward, ignoring Draco's flicking of cereal at his head. The house-elf took a deep breath before speaking very quickly. "I is seeing Sirius Black, sir," he said in a loud whisper. The effect was immediate: Narcissa dropped her fork while Lucius seemed to lose what color was left in his face. Dobby was encouraged by this reaction. "And Dobby is seeing a boy too, sir. A young boy, Master Draco's age."

"You saw Sirius Black?" Lucius repeated slowly. Dobby nodded fervently. "You're certain it was him, Dobby?"

Dobby's head was nodding so furiously that his floppy ears kept smacking his eyeballs. "Dobby is positive, sir! Dobby is seeing Sirius Black's picture in the _Daily Prophet_ for years and recognized him the moment Dobby is seeing him, sir."

Lucius and Narcissa exchanged a brief glance before the wizard started to leave the room. Dobby began to relax as his master seemed to forget his being fifteen minutes late with breakfast, but as Lucius opened the door to the main hallway, he glanced over his shoulder.

"Dobby, come with me."

The house-elf's shoulders slumped and he followed his master to his study.

* * *

Allyson was getting frustrated. She'd spent the last several hours wandering between all the places she could think of that Sirius could possibly be using as a hideout. So far, she'd visited the wizard's old flat, his childhood home on Grimmauld Place—even though she knew this would be a long shot—James' childhood home, and even the house in Godric's Hollow where Lily and James were murdered. None of them seemed likely, but as she'd run out of options to search, she figured it couldn't hurt to check again.

Currently, she was walking through a patch of forest that led to Remus' small home. Though she knew he wouldn't be there just yet—he'd wanted to go back to the cabin outside the Forest of Dean to see whether they had missed any clue as to where Sirius could have taken Harry—Allyson had no more patience for running around the country to places she'd been a dozen times in the last week alone.

The trees finally opened up and Allyson could see the small home that had been built by Remus' great-grandfather. There'd never been much for the Lupin family to pass down through generations, but the house had always been something Remus prided himself on. Every bit of the place was in near-perfect condition from the light blue paint down to the small flower gardens in front of the porch.

As she stepped up the front stairs, she spotted an unfamiliar owl sitting on the open living room windowsill, a letter in its beak. When the bird spotted Allyson, it gave a muffled hoot, dropped the letter to the wooden porch floor, and flew off over the trees.

With a raised eyebrow, Allyson shook off the odd animal behavior and went to pick up the letter. Normally, she wouldn't have looked twice at the writing on the parchment and certainly wouldn't have opened somebody else's post, but as she opened the front door to let herself in and leave Remus' mail on the living room table, these rules and ethics were pushed far out of the way. The moment she spotted the scrawled handwriting that spelt out Remus' name, she stopped in her tracks, staring open-mouthed at the parchment. Why would Sirius Black contact Remus?

Allyson actually hesitated a few moments before her stumbling fingers slid through the envelope lip to open it. Her curiosity having gotten the better of her, regardless of the chances that something might hex her the moment she pulled out the letter, within moments, she was unfolding the paper, reaching automatically to catch the stack of photos that slipped out. For the moment, she shifted the photos behind the parchment without looking at them in order to first read the letter dated 31 July 1986.

_Moony, _ it read,

_I hope this letter reaches you well. As you know, today is Harry's fifth birthday, and he's growing like a bloody weed. Every week it seems like I have to do enlargement charms on his clothing. He is doing very well overall—he loves to fly, as is to be expected, with the father he had. His pranking skills are growing rapidly every day—he's even managed to surprise me a few times._

_Though our lives aren't nearly what I wish they were, I think we've done quite well thus far. Harry is happy and healthy and I'm mostly happy. I often think about what would happen if the Ministry found us and those thoughts keep me up most nights. It's not easy, being on the run and trying to raise a child at the same time, but I'm managing somehow. Harry is what keeps me going; he's the only thing some days, to be honest. If it wasn't for him, I think I would have gone to the Ministry long ago and taken my chances by attempting to tell them the truth. There've been a few times that I wondered if I should anyway—Harry deserves a better life than this. But I'm a rather selfish man and I can't give him up. I'm all he knows and I honestly think he'd be lost without me. That may sound a bit arrogant, but it's the truth. Harry is my life now and I'll do whatever it takes to keep him safe. _

_I do hope you don't consider this as bragging, Remus; that isn't how I meant it to sound. I just wanted you to have an idea of how Harry has changed me from only caring about myself most times to my life revolving solely around another person._

_I've enclosed a few photos that I think will give you an idea of what Harry is like. He looks so much like James, and his eyes… Moony, they're exactly Lily's. Hopefully one day soon, you'll be able to see him in person. First, though, I have to figure out how to get Wormtail to confess to what he's done._

_I'll write again on Halloween. Until then, take care of yourself and give Allyson my best._

_Harry & Sirius_

Without truly realizing what she had just read, Allyson shuffled the parchment and photos around so that she was now watching a little black-haired boy running in and out of the frame so that all Allyson could really see was a small blur. The next photo was of the same boy, though this time he remained in sight, silently talking with somebody not visible. The witch stared at the boy, drinking in every detail of his obviously happy, well-cared for face. Unlike the photo Allyson had recently seen of Harry flying over a forest of trees, there was no need to zoom in to study his features. He was a miniature version of James but with deliberate changes. The most noticeable difference was the child's eyes. They were exactly Lily's: almond-shaped and emerald green, shining in excitement and happiness. His messy hair fell across his forehead in a way that displayed the thin lightning-shaped scar between his eyebrows perfectly. What was it from? Had Harry fallen off his broomstick when he was learning to fly or perhaps tripped over his feet when he was learning to walk and hit his head on a corner of the coffee table?

Allyson moved on to the last photo, this one of both Sirius and Harry. The pair was stretched out on a child-sized bed, reading some book. Allyson couldn't help but notice the look of pride and love in Sirius' eyes as he turned a page and pointed something out to the boy with the arm that was wrapped around Harry's shoulders. They looked like they belonged together, Sirius and Harry, and though her mind tried desperately, she couldn't find any signs that Harry was being taught the Dark Arts.

The Auror's concentration was broken by a _pop_ coming from inside the house. She hastily stuffed the letter and photos into her robes and entered the house, assuming Remus had come home—she'd have to figure out a way to approach her friend about what she'd just found without accusing him of deceit, regardless of the annoyance that was building up. How long had Remus been receiving letters from Sirius?

Once again, however, her intentions were suddenly halted as she found something else she wasn't expecting. Peter was in Remus' kitchen, searching furiously for something. He bustled around the kitchen counters, looking behind the bread box and cleaned dishes on the edge of the sink, muttering something along the lines of "it must be here somewhere, it's been almost two months..."

Bemused, Allyson entered the kitchen fully and cleared her throat to announce her presence. Peter jumped several inches in the hair before turning to the witch. "Looking for something, Pete?" she asked, slightly suspicious of her friend's behavior.

Peter gave her a nervous smile. "Er, yes, well..." He cleared his throat, his eyes darting around the kitchen still. "I think I left, er, a crossword I'd been working on and I just wanted to get it back. It's worth a hundred galleons in the _Prophet_ drawing if it's correct."

"A crossword?" she repeated skeptically.

Peter's eyes stopped on Allyson and they widened as they seemed to spot something on her person. The witch looked down and found the letter and photos she'd stuffed so hastily into her robes were sticking most of the way out, enough for somebody to realized what they were. "W-what's that you've got?" Peter asked suddenly, pointing a shaking finger at her robes.

Allyson pushed the items out of sight. "Oh, that's nothing," she said with an attempt at a light voice. She wasn't sure why she was behaving this way or why Peter seemed so unnerved and eager to get his hands on the letter and photos—did he know about them? But she'd made the split second decision that until she had more information, nobody would be touching the items in her robe pockets. Whether Peter realized that Allyson knew Sirius had contacted them, she never knew, but there was something strange in Peter's eyes at that particular moment that Allyson couldn't quite identify. All she knew was that something about the situation wasn't adding up and she was bound and determined to figure out what.

"Could I see that?" Peter said quietly, taking a few steps towards the witch.

Automatically, Allyson's hand twitched towards the wand in her pocket. "I don't think that's a good idea right now," she said evenly.

Peter shook his head, a desperate almost hungry look in his eyes. "I'd _really _like to see what you have."

Allyson sensed what was about to happen, but was unable to react due to the shock of the situation. Within a second, Peter's wand was out, pointed at her, and with a flash of light, Allyson blacked out.


	7. Facing the Truth

Remus Apparated into his backyard feeling tired and defeated. Though he hadn't expected anything to the contrary, he hadn't found any missed clues or hints in the cabin Sirius and Harry obviously completely abandoned. All their clothes and belongings were still there; wherever they'd gone they hadn't taken anything with them. Regardless of the fact that they'd happened upon the previous hiding spot once, Remus would be surprised if they found anything else in their search. While he shared Allyson's anger and loathing of Sirius Black, he wasn't sure this obsession to find the man who'd handed their friends to Lord Voldemort would allow Allyson to keep hold of her remaining sanity much longer.

She'd always been fiercely protective of her friends and loved ones—she'd have gone to hell and back a dozen times just to ensure her friends remained safe. Allyson and Lily had met on the Hogwarts Express on their very first day of school and had been relatively inseparable ever since. While Lily had spent the majority of her time at Hogwarts pretending James Potter and his group of friends didn't exist, Allyson had all but waged open warfare on the Marauders, James and Sirius in particular. The year that stood out most in Remus' mind was their fourth year when his two friends had decided it would be amusing to send Allyson Howlers every morning for two months. Once she'd realized who was behind the prank, she hadn't gotten angry like the rest of Gryffindor House had come to expect her to do; instead she spent the next several weeks leading to Christmas holidays plotting and planning her revenge.

Remus had noticed this behavior immediately and though he was the only Marauder who was ever able to hold a civil conversation with Allyson and Lily, even he was unable to find out what was coming. James and Sirius had ignored Remus' warnings about Allyson, but when the young witch had walked past them on Platform 9 ¾ as they unboarded the train to meet with their families and very brightly and sweetly wished them a Happy Christmas and gave them a little wave, they had finally become unnerved. Even on their return to Hogwarts, they had tried to convince themselves that Allyson wasn't really a threat and surely she'd forgotten about the Howlers by now.

When they'd woken on the first day back at school and found their mattresses in the middle of the frozen Hogwarts Lake with nothing covering their bodies but thin sheets, both boys had agreed that it would be much better for their health to have Allyson Wylde on their side rather than as an enemy.

Sometime around sixth year, Allyson made a point of spending time with the Marauders. She and Remus had always gotten along very well and Remus always considered her a good friend. At some point during their friendship, both of them realized the effect they'd had on one another: Allyson had a way of forcing Remus to lighten up and abandon his studies more often than his other friends could manage, and Remus seemed to have a natural talent for keeping Allyson's temper under control, something he'd never been able to do with Sirius and James.

Remus had been more surprised than anybody to see Allyson Wylde and Sirius Black had gotten together in the middle of the summer before seventh year; they'd gotten along without killing one another every other year at Hogwarts, it had seemed. When they weren't constantly fighting about something ridiculous, they were the best of friends and would have done anything for each other. Not much changed when they began dating; during the weeks and months they could stand to be in one another's presence, there didn't seem to be a stronger relationship than theirs.

Sirius had actually proposed marriage only a month before Lily and James were killed, and the two of them had been planning a spring wedding. The thought that the man she'd loved more than anything could have been responsible for her best friend's murder and had been deceiving her for who knew how long seemed to hit Allyson harder than anything. It was, Remus believed, the reason one of his last remaining friends had been so caught up in finding Sirius herself rather than involving the Ministry.

As he approached the backdoor, Remus felt something odd in his stomach, a knot that was usually caused by something bad that had happened. Nothing on the outside of the house looked wrong, but as he reached for the door handle, his heart rate quickened. Once the door was fully opened, Remus scanned the kitchen and the door leading to other rooms of the house, initially unable to pinpoint what was bothering him so deeply. It was only when he'd entered the house, let the door close behind him, and moved to the other side of the kitchen table that he spotted a pair of feet sticking up at him.

Remus' brow furrowed as his eyes moved slowly further up the person's body to their head, and he knew who it was long before he'd seen a head of light brown hair surrounding Allyson's unconscious face. He quickly shook himself from his shock and moved to kneel beside his friend's head; pointing his wand at her chest, he muttered, "_Ennervate,_" and waited for her to wake.

During the near two minutes that it took for her eyes to dazedly flutter open, Remus tried to figure out what had gotten her into this predicament. Obviously, she'd been attacked, but Remus was hard-pressed to recall the last time Auror Allyson Wylde had been successfully attacked, even when her back was turned. During her Auror training, she'd been among the top of her class, just behind James Potter, and was quickest with her wand. Though she may have been slightly rusty after five years of not truly battling, there wasn't much chance that Allyson would have been caught off guard this badly.

Allyson began to stir and Remus scooted back a little to give her some breathing room. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around in confusion before landing on Remus. Her brow furrowed. "What happened?" she asked quietly as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head.

Remus' eyebrows shot up. "I was hoping you could tell me," he replied slowly, standing and helping her into a chair.

She shook her head experimentally as she continued to look around. "I don't know," she eventually replied. "I came to meet you, and... I don't even remember coming into the house."

Remus watched her for several minutes as she tried to work out what happened to her. If he'd had to guess, he'd say she'd been Confunded and Stunned. But why? Who could know she would be at his home at that time and what was it that caused the attack in the first place? The immediate thought was Sirius. This was pushed out of his mind almost as quickly; regardless of every horrible thing he'd ever thought about Sirius murdering Lily and James, bowing at Voldemort's feet, and teaching Harry all about the Dark Arts, he couldn't imagine Sirius actually harming Allyson. He didn't voice his theory, though; if Allyson had been Confunded by somebody, she would be very susceptible to suggestion over the next several hours. He could have told her a horde of flying monkeys had flown in and cursed her, and she probably would have believed it without second thought.

"Do you need to see a Healer?" he asked as he became more concerned with her well-being.

It took far too long for her to reply. "No," she finally said. "I'm fine, honestly. I think it was exhaustion."

Skeptically, Remus nodded, still scrutinizing her face. "Well, all the same," he said after a few moments. "Perhaps you should stay here for the night. I'll setup the guest bedroom for you." Without waiting for what he knew would be an argumentative retort, he stood from the table and left the kitchen.

* * *

Next morning, Allyson woke in a daze. It took her several minutes to realize that she'd stayed the night at Remus' and more to remember why. A low buzz of noise floated through the thin walls and hit her ears as she threw back her blankets from her body. Her sleep had been disrupted by confused, broken images and sounds that she was still trying to sort out without any luck. As she exited Remus' guest bedroom and stepped into the hallway, the low buzz of noise was converted to a murmur of voices in conversation, and she knew both voices quite well.

In the kitchen, Remus and Peter sat beside one another at the table, coffee cups in front of them as they talked quietly. She was almost certain the topic of their conversation was what had happened to her yesterday and she wasn't eager to discuss it. She cleared her voice loudly to announce her presence, ignored the feeling of déjà vu when Peter jumped several inches in his chair, and went the counter to pour herself some coffee.

"How are you feeling?" Remus asked immediately. This only confirmed her thought that they had been talking about her.

She shrugged as she took her cup to the table and sat on Peter's other side. "All right," she lied. She had one of the worst headaches of her life and felt as though she'd been thrown from the top of Gryffindor Tower and landed on her back. "Little tired..."

Remus nodded, glancing briefly at Peter's sudden nervousness. Neither he nor Allyson called much attention to it, but both of them noticed how Peter was looking at Allyson out of the corners of his eyes and twitched every time she reached for her coffee. "Peter and I were discussing it," Remus began quietly—Allyson resisted the urge to groan loudly and childishly, "and we think Sirius was here yesterday."

"No he wasn't," Allyson replied instantly. "It wasn't Sirius."

The werewolf's eyebrows rose. "How can you be certain? I'd bet my wand that you were Confunded and after something like that you're view on the situation is completely convoluted."

"I know how a Confundus Charm works, Remus," Allyson said coolly. "I don't need the lesson. As for how I can be certain..." She hesitated. How could she explain this without getting looks from her friends that questioned her sanity? "I just am, okay? I don't know who did it, I don't know why, but I _know_ it wasn't Sirius." Just as she'd expected, Remus and Peter exchanged a look that suggested they were debating which one of them would be booking her a bed at St. Mungo's Hospital. She sighed in annoyance. "Remus, you've been saying for ages that Sirius is far too smart to do the obvious, right? Don't you think it would be a little _too_ obvious to break into your home and curse an Auror? Besides, what could he possibly want here? No offense, but you don't have many valuable things around here worth stealing."

She briefly spotted a look of hurt cross Remus' face, but he pushed it aside quickly, as he always did. "If it wasn't Sirius," he said quietly, "then who was it?"

She sighed heavily before draining her coffee cup and going to place it in the sink. "I don't know." Without looking at Remus and Peter for their reactions, she headed down the hallway again to take a shower.

* * *

Within the confines of Potter Manor, Harry and Sirius were playing the boy's favorite game: hide and seek. Normally, back at the cabin, Sirius had no trouble whatsoever finding his godson—a rule had been implemented long ago that Harry was not to leave small yard surrounding their house. Here, however, it was a bit tougher as Harry now had much more room and hiding places than ever. Not to mention the house-elves had no problem helping to hide their young master, regardless of his godfather's lengthy searches.

Sirius stood from where he'd knelt to look under Harry's bed and pushed his hair from his eyes, placing his hands on his hips. He'd searched everywhere for Harry. Wherever he'd found to hide today was his best yet. He turned and left the room, intending to head down to the kitchen—Harry had discovered a few interesting hiding spots in amongst the cupboards that only someone his size could fit into. As he started down the stairs, he heard a creaking of floorboards behind him. Automatically, he turned, expecting to hear the tiny footfalls of his godson as he crossed the hallway to hide elsewhere. The top of the stairs was deserted and there were no further sounds. Shrugging this off, Sirius continued down to the kitchen.

He stopped almost immediately with a feeling that he was being followed. Again, he turned and found nothing. "Harry?" he called out tentatively. There was no response, but the feeling of being followed and watched only became stronger. He couldn't quite pinpoint the moment when the feeling turned to outright paranoia, and even before he was able to recognize the symptoms, a jet of light came from the deserted spot where he'd been staring, and he crumpled to the floor.

* * *

"Mister Sirius."

Sirius groaned a bit as he started to regain consciousness.

"He is waking!" said a rather piercing voice. "Mister Sirius, is you okay?"

The wizard's eyes fluttered open and spotted a pair of blue orbs hovering over him concernedly. "D-Dotty?" he murmured hoarsely, sitting up slowly. "What happened?"

"You is being stunned, Mister Sirius," Dotty explained quietly.

"Oh." Sirius looked around, not quite lucid enough to question who had stunned him or why. "Where's Harry?"

The crowding house-elves looked nervously between Dotty and Sirius, seeming to back up a few steps as silence fell. Dotty shot them all a glare before turning back to Sirius. "Mister Sirius, we is not knowing what is happening. The charms around Potter Manor should have alerted us of intruders—"

"What intruder?" Sirius asked sharply, standing up suddenly and ignoring the spinning his head was doing in objection to the action. "Where's Harry?"

"Master Harry is missing, Mister Sirius," Dotty said very quietly. She looked rather angry at herself and was preparing to punish herself. Sirius grabbed the lamp she was reaching for; he needed her conscious.

Trying to summon a calm he didn't think he possessed at the moment, Sirius took a deep breath before speaking. "Do you know who took him?" he asked, his voice rather weak.

Dotty nodded, her eyes darting around the room for something she could hit herself with. "We is believing Lucius Malfoy is taking Master Harry."

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was just finishing a letter to the Minister in response to the ongoing search for Sirius Black when his fireplace erupted in bright green flames. The Headmaster looked up and felt his eyebrows shoot up at the late night visitor, and his hand inch closer to his wand.

Sirius Black stood up straight, dusted some soot off his robes, and looked around rather nervously. Albus stood as well, his eyes narrowing as Sirius turned towards him. "Good evening, sir," he said quietly, his hands raised in a gesture of surrender.

"Black," Albus said coldly. "Is there something I can assist you with?"

Black swallowed hard before nodding. "Yes, sir, there is," he said evenly. Albus watched him closely as he began to very slowly cross the room. "And I hope you'll hear me out before calling the Ministry."

The wizard hesitated a few moments, remembering both the betrayal he'd felt upon discovering Lily and James' location had been leaked to Lord Voldemort and the Sirius Black he'd thought he'd known. Knowing he would have the upper hand should the discussion come to a duel, Dumbledore slowly nodded, requested Sirius handover his wand—which he did immediately—and gestured for the man to sit and begin the discussion.

* * *

Remus was lying on his sofa, staring at a well-read book without reading anything and trying to force his mind to focus on something besides the events of the last several weeks. Allyson had gone home earlier in the evening, probably the first time she'd returned to her own flat in several weeks, and he was left to attempt relaxing. It seemed to finally be working when his fireplace erupted in green flames. He wasn't sure who he'd expected—Peter perhaps, maybe Allyson—but the sight of Albus Dumbledore's head floating in the flames had him shoving aside his book and standing.

"Professor," Remus said in surprise. "To what do I owe this surprise?"

There was an odd look on his old Headmaster's face that he couldn't quite identify, though the usual sparkle was still in his eyes. "I wonder, Remus, if you had a moment to come for a face-to-face chat?" he asked softly. "And perhaps Miss Wylde may join us as well."

The younger wizard's eyebrows rose as he glanced at the clock across the room. It was nearing midnight, but there was something in Dumbledore's tone that suggested the request was merely manners; he needed Remus at Hogwarts immediately. "Of course, sir," he said quickly. "I'll be on my way shortly."

Dumbledore's head nodded, said thank you, and disappeared, leaving Remus wondering what could have happened that required him to head to the castle at this time of night, and what might require Allyson's presence. Only one thing came to mind, but he was uncertain under what circumstances this may have occurred. Shaking himself, he quickly sent Allyson a patronus-message with only enough details to guarantee her immediate arrival—the more cryptic he was, the sooner she would show up. And he wasn't mistaken. Just as he'd pulled on his shoes some three minutes later, his best friend was calling out for him.

"I'm in here," he called back.

Allyson strolled into the living room, her wand out and at the ready as though she suspected to be confronted with some dark foe attacking the werewolf. When she found Remus wasn't in any immediate danger, she lowered her wand and raised her eyebrows. "What's up?" she asked.

"Dumbledore wants to see us," he responded briskly, then added in an attempt to stall her questioning of things he wasn't certain about himself, "I don't know why, but the sooner we get there, the sooner we find out."

"The man's lost his mind," she muttered joining him in front of the fireplace. "Tea time in the middle of the night, I ask you."

Remus chuckled and held out his jar of Floo powder to her. "Ladies first," he said teasingly.

She rolled her eyes, but grabbed a small handful and stepped into the flames. "Hogwarts School, Headmaster's study," she said clearly, tossing the powder at her feet.

Remus stepped into the fireplace before she'd fully disappeared and repeated the destination. He stepped neatly out of the fireplace onto Dumbledore's carpet, glancing up to find Allyson had frozen in her tracks only a step or two in front of him. Her wand was out and pointed at something Remus couldn't quite see.

"What the hell are you doing here!" she demanded angrily and loudly.

The werewolf stepped around his friend and found the source of her anger immediately. Sitting in a chair beside Dumbledore's desk, cool as can be, was Sirius Black, the man he and Allyson had been hunting for nearly a month. Only the shock of the scene kept Remus' wand in his robes.

"Allyson," Dumbledore said rather sternly, standing behind his desk, "I ask that you lower your wand. Mister Black has relinquished his own wand and is no immediate threat to any of us."

"No immediate threat?" Allyson repeated incredulously. "You're right, Dumbledore. The threat to us expired five years ago, didn't it? The only person under his immediate threat is Harry."

Remus' brow furrowed at how Sirius' face, for the first time since his and Allyson's arrival, changed slightly—his face hardened for a few seconds before it relaxed into something Remus' mind had identified as fear.

Dumbledore remained quite calm. "I will only ask once more, Allyson, before I will be forced to take your wand by physical means," he said quietly, his hand reaching for his own wand. Remus quickly reached over to lower his friend's wand arm and extract the wand from her hand. She seemed to not even realize he'd done anything. "Thank you," Dumbledore said. "Now, if you'll kindly take a seat, there is much to be discussed and not much time to do it in."

Exchanging a glance that suggested this was the oddest dream either of them had ever experienced, Remus began crossing the room to the indicated chairs, grabbing Allyson's wrist to both move her and keep her from going anywhere but where she was supposed to go. He knew Dumbledore wouldn't want to hurt her, but would stun her if she didn't obey his request. Luckily, Allyson seemed to realize this as well, and for the time being was quite willing to hear her Headmaster out.

Dumbledore once again took his seat, looking directly at the new arrivals. "There are things the two of you need to hear," he stated quietly, "and I wish that you will remain calm until everything is out in the open. If you do not agree to these terms," his eyes darted briefly to Allyson, "I will be forced to Obliviate your memory of what you have seen here and you will be taken home. Do you agree to these conditions?"

Forcing himself to only look between Dumbledore and Allyson for the moment, Remus found himself overcome with curiosity for the situation, but made sure Allyson was going to cooperate before giving his answer. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes and nodded slightly at the Headmaster. Remus turned back to the older wizard. "We agree," he said hoarsely.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry it's been so long since the last update. Hope you haven't lost interest! Please review!


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